Art. VI] Herrick, Tuste iH Ftskes. 51 



Conger vulgaris, conger eel. 



Anguilla vulgaris, eel. 



Motella tnchrata, three-bearded rockling. 



Motella mustela, five-bearded rockling. 



NemacJieihis batbatiila, loach. 



f Lepadogastef goua?iu, sucker. 



Solea vulgaris, sole. 



Solea iniuuta, little sole. 



Acipenscr tuthenus, sterlet. 



He says, "To this list may almost certainly be added the 

 remainder of the Raiidae, together with the angel fish {Rhina 

 squatina) and Torpedo." Unfortunately, however, Bateson in 

 his list does not distinguish between those fishes in which smell 

 obviously plays the leading part and those in which taste or 

 touch or both are used to compensate for the reduction of vis- 

 ion, and it is this defect which it is hoped that the present con- 

 tribution may in part correct. 



Most of the forms in the list above are more or less noctur- 

 nal animals, but they differ much in this regard. The part at- 

 tributed to the sense of sight and smell in Bateson's studies is 

 so similar to my own conclusions in many respects that it seems 

 fitting to quote the greater part of his description, especially 

 since the species observed by us are iiT all cases different. He 

 says, "None of these fishes ever start in quest of food when it 

 is first put into the tank, but wait for an interval, doubtless 

 until the scent has been diffused through the water. Having 

 perceived the scent of food, they swim vaguely about and ap- 

 pear to seek it by examining the whole area pervaded by the 

 scent, having seemingly no sense of the direction whence it pro- 

 ceeds. Though some of these animals have undoubtedly some 

 visual perception of objects moving in the water, yet at no time 

 was there the slightest indication of any recognition of any food 

 substance by sight. The process of search is equally indirect 

 and tentative by day and by night, whether the food is exposed 

 or hidden in an opaque vessel, whether a piece of actual food is 

 in the water or the juice only, squeezed through a cloth, and, 

 lastly, whether (as tested in the case of the conger and the 



