320 Fish Stories 



was successful, as we put the cowfish back where he be- 

 longed. 



Doubtless one of these days a scientist will be born who 

 will emulate the distinguished gentleman, already referred 

 to who, under a vow to St. Ananias, hies himself to the 

 heart of Africa, and in a steel cage studies the language of 

 monkeys, and we shall all see him going down in a diving 

 bell and taking the language of fishes into a phonograph for 

 the benefit of posterity. 



It is something of a shock to discover that the " song " of 

 fishes is produced in a very different way from ordinary 

 everyday human song. Sorensen has shown that it comes 

 in the toadfishes from the air bladder; certain contractions 

 and relaxations of the muscles produce it. The same is 

 doubtless true of many other fishes, especially those called 

 grunts, croakers, drums and roncadores. The recent studies 

 of Dr. R. M. Tower confirm this. There are special 

 muscles which produce this vibration of the air bladder. 

 In some species, only the males sing or grunt, in others, 

 both sexes, 



I have heard a peculiar sound made by a ray, and this 

 probably proceeded from the grating of the p>eculiar 

 grinding teeth in the mouth. In the Mexican Gulf a little 

 fish known as the grunt more often entertained me by its 

 sounds than any other fish. The moment a grunt was 

 landed, and it was almost impossible not to catch them, they 

 began to groan and grunt, sometimes in single notes, then 

 in doubles or ripples of sound, and often when the grunt 

 was very big a most extraordinary series of sounds quite 

 irresistible to the ordinary mortal. 



There are big and little " singers " among the fishes, and 

 no one who has spent a lifetime on the Jersey coast or has 

 been a drum fisherman will gainsay this, as the drum is the 

 deep bass of the entire tribe. Professor Spencer F. Baird 

 related to me a remarkable experience he had with these 

 fishes. He had heard stories of their singing and determined 



