202 DOMESTICATED TROUT. 



The eye of the trout has very convex lenses, and is 

 not provided with Uds or any other shield whatever 

 from the light. This makes bright sunlight sometimes 

 fatal to young trout which have passed their embryo 

 period in the dark. The eyes are situated above the 

 line of the widest part of the head, and are a little 

 protuberant, thus enabling them to see above, before, 

 behind, and around, but not below them. Hence 

 they cannot feed off the bottom, except at random. 

 They will dart at a piece of food on the bottom, hit or 

 miss, if they have seen it fall ; but you can see that 

 they feel for it with their mouths, rather than catch it 

 with their eye, and their movements are also then very 

 bungling compared with their swift, certain aim at any- 

 thing above them in the water. They will sometimes 

 poke the food off the bottom with their noses high 

 enough to see it, and then they will take it as well as 

 ever. 



The peculiar position of the eyes of the trout has 

 been sometimes overlooked in the controversy of fish- 

 ing down stream versus fishing up stream. But it is, 

 nevertheless, not true, as advanced in the argument 

 against fishing up stream, that the angler must neces- 

 sarily throw his line over the fish's head to attract his 

 notice to the bait, and so be liable to frighten him ; 

 for the trout can see the bait if above and consider- 

 ably behind him, and will whirl and take it so placed, 

 if disposed. 



Opinions are divided about the sense of hearing in 

 trout. I think that there never was a controversy in 

 the world in which assertions on the subject were 



