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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



not realised, one being found apparently in a lifeless 

 condition at the bottom of the tank one morning at 

 the end of the three weeks of its indisposition. On 

 examination, I found no signs of life in it, and as it 

 was required for the purpose of preservation in spirits, 

 I desired the attendant to place it in a dry receptacle 

 for six hours before operating upon it, in order to 

 preclude the possibility of the slightest particle of 

 animation being present. At the end of that time 

 the fish was removed, and having filled a glass jar 

 with spirits, I commenced to place the fish therein, 

 head foremost. 



No sooner, however, did it come in contact with the 

 spirits than it revived and wriggled about violently in 

 the jar, insomuch that it upset the liquid. This incident 

 fully confirms the result of the experiment tried some 

 time since by Mr. W. Oldham Chambers, F.L.S., who 

 restored carp on the point of expiration by the means 

 of brandy. In the case before us we have a remarkable 

 evidence of the hardihood of fish, serving to show that, 

 although they may exhibit every sign of death upon 

 outward examination, there is still animation within 

 for some time after they grow stiff, which is capable of 

 revivification, by the potency of a stimulant. On this 

 account every effort ought to be made by anglers and 

 others to takesuddenand effective methods of depriving 

 them of animation, instead of allowing them tolinger in 

 the pains of death on being captured. The spark of life 

 that was accidentally kindled into a flame by means of 

 the spirits infused into the bass, must have indeed 

 been small, considering the length of time the fish 

 had been kept out of water. 



In further support of my statement respecting the 

 hardihood of bass, I would mention that they are 

 capable of existing in water having a temperature of 

 30 . This is noteworthy, as they disappear from view 

 in their natural state during the winter, retiring into 

 the deep water of warm locations. In the summer 

 they emerge from thence, and approach the mouths of 

 rivers where they usually deposit their ova. Aristotle, 

 who was doubtless a great authority on fish, mentions 

 that bass breed twice in one year ; this statement, 

 however, is not correct. Doubtless it was inspired by 

 the fact that bass sometimes yield their ova in two or 

 three instalments, which I have known them do 

 during a period covering two months. Again, con- 

 sidering the large number of ova extruded at one time, 

 it would seem impossible for them to repeat the 

 supply twice in a year ; besides they require a warm 

 temperature in which to spawn, therefore that they 

 could not breed in the winter as well as the summer. 



It is to be regretted that the bass does not enter 

 more freely into our list of dietaries. Provided it is 

 quite fresh its quality is very good, but when three 

 days old its flavour becomes impaired, being extremely 

 oily. If, however, it was caught in larger numbers I 

 feel sure it would become popular as a food fish. In 

 the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans it was 

 highly esteemed as an article of food, and attracted 



great attention in the writings of Aristotle, Ovid, and 

 Pliny, while in the mosaic group of fish disinterred at 

 Pompeii it is prominently depicted. One cause for 

 their scarcity in the market, is the difficulty that 

 exists in capturing them. There are few fish 

 more crafty than the bass, and few requiring more 

 elaborate fishing-engines or more skill in mani- 

 pulating them. Like the grey mullet, they can best be 

 taken by working the seine-net near the shore ; even 

 then they effect their escape in a most cunning man- 

 ner. They are evidently able to discern the presence 

 of the net and avoid it accordingly, judging by the 

 way which they dive beneath it to evade capture. 

 Bass, therefore, are not popular with fishermen, who 

 admit they are too wary for them, and cost more 

 trouble and expense in catching than they are 

 worth. Hence the paucity of the supply in the 

 market, and the glut in certain parts of the vasty deep. 

 For a marine game fish commend me to the bass, 

 which affords almost as much sport as its dusky 

 fluviatile congener of the United States. From rocks, 

 boats or pier-heads, they may be taken by the means 

 of rod and line, and I have, on various occasions, 

 witnessed them landed at flood tide by means of an 

 artificial dead or live bait. 



GOSSIP ON CURRENT TOPICS. 

 By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 



SNOW IN AUGUST— We had some curious 

 weather last year in England, but the meteoro- 

 logical bulletin of the Royal Observatory of Brussels 

 beats our record. On the 10th of August, at about 

 3.20 P.M., there was a fall of snow mixed with rain 

 at Turnhout, in Belgium, and on the 3rd and 4th 

 August there were white frosts at Maldegehm, in 

 Flanders. The same on 12th, in the south-east of 

 Belgium, There was a very severe frost on 7th July, 

 which did considerable damage to the crops over a 

 large area of country. 



The Steering " Instinct." — The migration of 

 birds across the sea has suggested many specula- 

 tions, some of them rather wild. How do they 

 steer? Formerly there was no difficulty in solving 

 this or any other problem of the kind. They were 

 "guided by instinct." Instinct, like Mesopotamia, 

 was a " blessed word" among the old naturalists ; it 

 covered every difficulty. Subsequently " inherited 

 memory" was modestly suggested, and recently it 

 has become almost as blessed as instinct in settling 

 everything. In his day Jack Falstaff said, "instinct 

 is a great matter ; I was a coward upon instinct." 

 If he were living now he would say, " heredity is a 

 great matter ; I was a coward upon heredity." 



I have already advocated a much simpler explana- 

 tion, viz. that the birds select narrow channels, and 



