Art. VI.] Herrick, Taste in Fishes. 8 1 



These experiments were repeated in many forms many- 

 times. In most of these cases the efficient organ in discovering 

 the presence of the food was almost certainly the pelvic fin. 

 At least, this alone located it. For the fish swam about (possi- 

 bly feebly smelling something good) but did not make a definite 

 movement toward the bait until the fins were dragged over the 

 crack between the two shells containing it, from which the 

 juices were doubtless being diffused out into the surrounding 

 water. Then he backed up in the typical way. If the bait 

 was not found within a very few minutes, it was left unnoticed, 

 even though subsequently uncovered. 



These fishes almost invariably find a concealed bait, though 

 the hake rarely does so. The hake seems to perceive the odor 

 or savor of the food, for he lingers about the spot where it is 

 concealed, but never makes a movement to uncover it. The 

 torn cod, on the other hand, actively pushes things about with 

 the snout until the bait is discovered. But, unlike the gadoid 

 fishes which Bateson describes, these fishes do not get the scent 

 of the food at any considerable distance and then search for it. 

 They do not notice the bait until within a few centimeters of it, 

 and there is no evidence that the sense of smell assists at all iri 

 the localization. 



To test this point the olfactory organ was extirpated in 

 several tom cods which had given the reaction last described 

 clearly. Several ways of performing this operation were tried. 

 The most successful method was to etherize the fish sufficiently to 

 keep him quiet, and then operate in a shallow tray with the 

 mouth kept under water, cutting ofT the olfactory nerves or 

 crura with a sharp scalpel. The wounds suppurated badly, but 

 appeared to give the fish no serious trouble, as they fed nor- 

 mally from the second day onward. Without going into the 

 details of the observations, I may say that after the third or 

 fourth day the fishes took their food in all respects like unin- 

 jured fishes, so far as could be observed. They gave all the 

 characteristic reflexes that have been mentioned above, in- 

 cluding the discrimination between cotton wool and cotton 

 dipped in clam juice and between sea water and clam juice ap- 



