80 SUPPLEMENT ON 



inclosing all remains of what might exist of sensibility in the 

 organ beneath, which receives but a scanty supply of nerves 

 from the glosso-pharyngeal ; some portion of the palate or of 

 the pharynx may however supply for the deficiency of the 

 tongue, and possess gustation. Thus we find in carps, at the 

 entrance of the throat, the roof of the palate lined with a 

 fleshy substance, thick and soft, abounding with nerves derived 

 from the eighth pair, and which being opposite to the pharyn- 

 geal teeth, seems to furnish the requisite dispositions for 

 supplying the gratifications of the taste of food ; but it is 

 nevertheless difficult to establish this conjecture upon solid 

 foundations : this organ has however a peculiar kind of irri- 

 tability ; if it be but touched or pricked that part of the 

 surface will rise, and for a few moments assume the form of a 

 conical button ; the same effect may be produced successively 

 on every part of the organ while vitality remains, which we 

 know continues in carps for some time after the head has 

 been taken off the body. 



The organs of touch in fishes are as imperfect as those of 

 tasting. Without prolonged members, and in particular 

 without flexible fingers capable of grasping, they can scarcely 

 explore the forms of objects by any other means than by 

 their lips. The appendices or barbels which siluri, loches, 

 several gadi, and cyprini, have round the mouth ; the fila- 

 ments or rays, springing from the pectoral fins of gurnards 

 and polynemi ; the moveable rays on the heads of anglers, 

 serve more to give notice of the approach of strange bodies, 

 than to ascertain their form and other tangible qualities, and 

 nevertheless within the limits prescribed to them, their organs 

 are very sensitive, and possess nerves remarkably large. The 

 external covering of fish, particularly when composed of 

 scales, cannot possess much sensibility. But there is in this 

 particular an infinite variety of modifications : from the per- 

 fectly naked skin of lampreys, or that of eels, furnished with 



