Art. VI] Herrick, Tttstc in Fishes. 67 



would usually pay no attention to a contact with the cotton on 

 the skin of the body and the reaction by the barblets became 

 uncertain, until finally the cotton could be freely rubbed over 

 the barblets or lips of some of the individuals without produc- 

 ing any response. 



These experiments were many times repeated, sometimes 

 using- white cotton, sometimes red cotton and sometimes fresh 

 meat. The reaction was uniformly obtained with the meat. If 

 at the close of a i^\^ experiments with the meat a minute 

 pledget of cotton was substituted for the meat, there was feeble 

 or no response from rubbing the body with the cotton, though 

 upon touching the barblets the fish would usually turn and 

 often would seize the cotton and drop it again at once. After 

 several repetitions, the fish became wholly indifferent to the 

 cotton no matter how it was applied, or they would if touched 

 upon a barblet turn toward it without biting it. They were 

 now again tested with bits of meat. This they took as eagerly 

 and as precisely as before, showing that they were still hungry. 



After the interval of a day or two the fishes would still 

 appear to remember the cotton and I rarely after the first trials 

 got a prompt "gustatory" reflex with the cotton. If they no- 

 ticed it at all, they would turn slowly and touch it with the lips 

 or a barblet in a tentative or inquiring manner, only to turn 

 away again without taking it into the mouth. This deliberate 

 movement may be designated for reasons to appear immedi- 

 ately as the tactile irjiex, as distinguished from the instant seiz- 

 ing of food, the "gustatory reflex." 



These experiments seem to show that in the reactions to 

 the meat both from the barblet and from the skin of the body 

 the sense of taste and touch both participate. This is in accord 

 with the known innervation of the skin and barblets, for 

 all parts of the body surface receive general cutaneous 

 (tactile) nerves and all parts are plentifully provided with tei m- 

 inal buds (taste buds) which are innervated by communis (gus- 

 tatory) nerves. The experiments further suggest that these 

 two sensory factors can be experimentally isolated by training. 



The fishes having become accustomed by brief training to 



