OUTLINES OF ICHTHYOLOGY. 157 



Cornwall, brought his grey mullet together to be 

 fed by making a noise with two sticks. 



As regards the sense of Feeling in fish, the rigid 

 nature of their scaly covering renders it probable 

 that in the generality of cases they possess but 

 little external sense of touch. Many of their 

 members are more independent of each other than 

 those of warm-blooded animals. They seem less 

 connected with common centres, " in this respect," 

 as Mr. Kirby says in his " Bridgewater Treatise," 

 " rather resembling vegetables." 



Some of their parts, such as the fins, if muti- 

 lated, can be reproduced, and, indeed, a fish, like a 

 reptile, may be cut and almost dismembered with- 

 out appearing to suffer materially. Thus the 

 shark from which a harpoon has just dragged a 

 portion of its flesh pursues its prey without any 

 apparent loss of appetite or energy, and I have 

 myself hooked the same pike with the spoon-bait 

 three times within as many minutes. 



That fish are wholly destitute of the organs of 

 feeling must not, however, be inferred. Such 

 organs are, indeed, to a certain extent, essential 

 for their self-preservation. The lips in many spe- 

 cies are soft and pulpy ; the mouths of others are 

 provided with barbules, or cirri — sometimes called 

 " barbels," or " beards," — largely supplied with 

 nerves, and acting, doubtless, as delicate organs of 

 touch, for detecting the nature of the substances 



