THE SENSES OF FISHES. 



BY WILLIAM C. HARRIS. 



THE subject of the mental and emotional capacity of 

 fishes is the cause of much curious comment and specula- 

 tion among angling naturalists, who do not willingly con- 

 sent that the class Pisces shall be placed upon a plane of intelli- 

 gence below that of the insects. The belief that fishes possess 

 qualities which reach a standard beyond the instinct of self- 

 preservation has recently gained in strength and interest, 

 OA^ing to the increased facilities that fish-culture has given 

 us for observing their habits. Seth Green, the Nestor of 

 fish-culture in America, believed that fish talked to one 

 another; and the idea is by no means an extravagant one. 



It is conceded by naturalists that certain insects and many 

 of the lower animals have the power of imparting mutual 

 intelligence by processes unknown to us. The little ants 

 hobnobbing with each other, the cooing dove wooing its 

 mate vocally, the hen clucking her brood under protecting 

 wings, are familiar instances of vocal intercourse among 

 insects and birds; and no one who has watched the minnows 

 of a shallow pool, or those in an aquarium, has failed to see 

 equally sure indications that fishes have a way of their own 

 in communicating with each other. They dart up to one 

 another, put noses together for a moment, and then dart off 

 with an air as much as to say, "All right." 



"Old Eschylus, in one of his poems, calls fish 'the voice- 



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