Art. VI.] Herrick, Tttste in FisJtes. 85 



edly thereafter for an indefinite number of times, though in each 

 case it is at once rejected as soon as it enters the mouth. The 

 sense of taste seems to be Hmited to the mouth and I found no 

 evidence of a gustatory reaction by the barblet, though the ex- 

 periments were not sufficiently numerous or varied to be con- 

 clusive. They do not find a concealed bait. 



The toad fish {Opsanus taii). These fishes were experi- 

 mented upon at the same time as the hake and tom cod and by 

 the same methods. The toad fish never found a concealed 

 bait and never seemed to get food by any other reflex path 

 than the visual or tactile. The fleshy cutaneous appendages of 

 the skin were especially tested to bring out possible gustatory 

 reactions, but with negative results save for those bordering on 

 the lips, where it was impossible to exclude the participation of 

 taste buds on the lips. This agrees with the anatomical find- 

 ings of Miss Clapp ('99) whose careful study of the skin of this 

 fish failed to reveal any terminal buds on these appendages or 

 elsewhere away from the buccal cavity. A jet of sea water di- 

 rected against these appendages or the body surface in general 

 usually disturbs or frightens the animal merely, if it is noticed 

 at all. A jet of clam juice similarly applied calls forth the same 

 reaction unless it is so directed as to reach the lips, in which 

 case the fish reacts to it just as the hake and tom cod do, at- 

 tempting to take the tip of the pipette in the mouth. The fol- 

 lowing solutions were applied in the same way by a fine pipette 

 to various parts of the body surface: o. 2 % hydrochloric and 

 I % hydrochloric acid in sea water, and o. i % quinine sulphate 

 in sea water. In all cases the fishes paid no attention to the 

 stimulus unless the substance was so applied as to come into 

 contact with the lips. The experiments lead me to conclude 

 that the toad fish can taste only within the mouth and on the 

 lips and that if the cutaneous appendages have any sensory 

 function it is tactile only. 



