i84 A HISTORY OF FISHES 



*' scent actively as well as to smell passively," and it is well 

 known that the smell of flesh or blood, or of a decaying carcase 

 will attract them to it from some distance away. The Caribe 

 or Piraya (Serrasalmus) , the ferocious Characin-fish of the rivers 

 of South America {cf. p. 130), is irresistibly attracted by the 

 smell of blood, and woe betide the animal unfortunate enough 

 to be bitten by one of these pests, for hundreds more will rush 

 to the spot with incredible rapidity. As long ago as 1653 

 Izaak Walton wrote the following in his Compleat Angler with 

 reference to the sense of smell in fishes. "And now I shall tell 

 you that which may be called a secret. I have been a-fishing 

 with old Oliver Henly, now with God, a noted fisher for Trout 

 and Salmon; and have observed that he would usually take 

 three or four worms out of his bag, and put them into a little 

 box in his pocket, where he would usually let them continue 

 half an hour or more before he would bait his hook with them. 

 I have asked him his reason, and he has replied: 'He did but 

 pick the best out to be in readiness against he baited his hook 

 the next time'; but he has been observed, both by others and 

 myself, to catch more fish than I, or any other body that has 

 ever gone a-fishing with him, could do, and especially Salmons. 

 And I have been told lately, by one of his most intimate and 

 secret friends, that the box in which he put these worms was 

 anointed with a drop, or two or three, of the oil of ivy-berries, 

 made by expression or infusion; and told that by the worms 

 remaining in that box an hour, or a like time, they had 

 incorporated a kind of smell that was irresistibly attractive, 

 enough to force any fish within the smell of them to bite." 



Mention may be made of a number of careful experiments 

 conducted by Mr. Gregg Wilson at Plymouth at the end of the 

 last century, with a view to ascertaining the respective parts 

 played by the sense of smell, sight, etc., in obtaining food. He 

 concluded that "fish that are not very hungry habitually smell 

 food before tasting it," but, when really ravenous, Pollack 

 would bolt clams that had been saturated with alcohol, turpen- 

 tine, chloroform and other unpleasant substances without any 

 hesitation. He also states that in many cases the fish actually 

 search for the meal by sight alone, and then test the quahty of 

 what they have found by smelling it. Some bHnd specimens of 

 Pollack, however, were able to find their tbod by smell alone, 

 and there are doubtless other forms which do this habitually, 

 especially those dwelling in muddy or foul water, where the 

 eyes would be of little use. The Cod (Gadus) is generally 



