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JOUR NAL OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR 



Vol. 4 JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1914 No. 1 



RAPID MODIFICATION OF THE BEHAVIOR OF FISHES 

 BY CONTACT WITH MODIFIED WATER 



VICTOR E. SHELFORD AND W. C. ALLEE 

 From the Zoological Laboratory of the University of Chicago. 



Page 



I. Introduction 1 



II. Conditions and Methods of Study 3 



III. Experimental Results 6 



IV. Interpretation of Results 22 



V. Bibliography 29 



I. INTRODUCTION 



At the present time animal behavior is being studied from 

 three or four more or less independent points of view: (1) the 

 point of view of tropisms and reflexes or the study of specificities 

 of behavior, (2) the point of view of positiveness or negativeness 

 to environmental factors — an aspect of ecology or the interpre- 

 tation of the relation of animals in their normal environments, 

 (3) the point of view of speed or vigor of reactions and of reflexes 

 in relation to the so-called physiological states and their modi- 

 fication — an aspect of physiology, because such states are due 

 to physiological changes such as a change in the rate of meta- 

 bolism, and (4), the point of view of the modification of behavior 

 by repetition of action or repeated stimulations — an aspect of 

 psychology. Such a separation of view points can be only pro- 

 visionally made as all are probably resolvable into physiology. 

 Most workers combine two or more of these points of view, so 

 that one type or aspect of behavior acts as an index of another. 



The first two view points noted deserve some comment. 

 Specificities of behavior may be defined as those peculiarities of 

 action which characterize species, genera, or even larger groups. 



