THE MIND OF FISHES. 45 



very peculiar ; the memory appears to be wonderfully 



quickened, and the rapidity of thought is so great, that 



every past incident of a man's life is vividly realised in a 



moment. May we not accept this as an illustration of 



the fact that there rt;r peculiarities? The vision of a fish, 



moreover, must be very remarkable. It was long 



supposed that a fish could not hear ; there is the old 



rhyme, 



" If a fish could hear as well as see, 

 Never a fisher would there be." 



But there is considerable evidence against the supposition 

 that a fish cannot hear. Carp and other species have 

 been taught to come for their food at the sound of a bell 

 or a whistle, and I find in the Angler in Wales, by Thomas 

 Medwin, an account given of fishing on the Ganges, where 

 the Hindoo is actually said to attract fish to his net by 

 means of a musical instrument. In his Harvest of the Sea, 

 Mr. Bertram says that the oyster-dredgers at Cockenzie 

 keep up a wild monotonous song while the dredging is 

 being carried on, believing that it charms the oysters into 

 the dredge : — 



" The herring loves the merry moonlight, 

 The mackerel loves the wind ; 

 But the oyster loves the dredger's song, 

 For he comes of a gentle kind." 



My own observations do not confirm their assumed ability 

 to hear. I have often tried to attract the attention offish 

 in the Aquarium by tapping on the glass, or striking the 

 framework of the tanks in which they were confined, but 

 almost invariably without success ; and even when there 



