THE SENSE OF HEARING IN FISHES. 95 



primitive fish, cyclostome or elasmobranch, has the ear been shown 

 to be a receptor for what may reasonably be called tones. The ears 

 of these lower fishes are stimulated only by relatively loud noises 

 such as have been shown to be effective stimuli for the skin. In the 

 higher fishes, the teleosts, the ears are not only stimulated by noises 

 of the kind just mentioned, but they are stimulated by much less 

 intense sounds and sounds more in the nature of tones. In this 

 respect they mark a great advance over the condition found in the 

 lower fishes, a condition probably phylogenetically earlier. 



From this standpoint it is maintained that fishes from the cyclo- 

 stomes to the teleosts have been shown to have, in varying degrees, 

 powers of hearing. While it is easy to agree with Haempel (1911, 

 p. 325) that Amiurus can hear, it is quite impossible to accept his 

 further conclusion that " unter den Siisswasserfischen einzig und 

 allein den Welsen die Fahigkeit des Horens zukommt." That these 

 fishes are the only ones that hear is so unnatural a conclusion that it 

 carries with it its own refutation. 



Harvard University, 

 April, 1918. 



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