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Resolved, That we tender our sympathies to the deeply-afflicted 

 survivors of his family left orphans by the sudden and heart- 

 rending removal of a mother, and by the premature death of 

 an endeared father. 



Captain N. E. Atvvood, of Provincetown, having been 

 requested to favor the Society with some remarks upon 

 fishes and their habits, related many interesting facts 

 which had come to his knowledge during a life spent 

 as a New England Fisherman. 



He first remarked upon the senses of taste, smell, sight, and 

 touch. It has been said by eminent ichthyologists that taste and 

 smell are very imperfectly developed in fishes; but this is not 

 the fact. Many fish are very particular in the choice of food ; 

 others, such, as the mackerel and blue-fish, and mid-water and 

 top-water fish generally, seem to be governed by sight in their 

 selection of food. He had often seen mackerel, when they were 

 abundant around a vessel, take all the bait that was thrown over- 

 board, but at the same time carefully avoid the baited hook. 

 He had also noticed that tobacco thrown overboard was seized by 

 mackerel but immediately rejected, showing as he thought a 

 sense of taste. It is to be presumed, however, that taste must be 

 imperfectly developed in animals which have a tongue more or 

 less cartilaginous, and covered with recurved teeth ; being obliged 

 unceasingly to open and close the jaws for the purpose of respira- 

 tion, they cannot long retain food in the mouth, but are obliged 

 to swallow it without mastication. 



The sense of smell seems to be well-developed in some fishes. 

 For instance, the ground swimmers generally have a choice as to 

 their food. Halibut and cod are attracted a great distance with 

 certain kinds of bait. Herring, when fresh and in good condi- 

 tion, will be very readily taken by cod, but when it has become 

 stale from long keeping, it will be rejected. Crustaceans, also, 

 as lobsters and crabs, are attracted by certain bait, which leaves 

 no doubt that they likewise possess some sense of smell. Al- 

 though the cod seems to swallow almost any thing that comes in 

 his way, even stones, wood, and fragments of nearly every thing 

 thrown overboard, Mr. Atwood had never seen an univalve mol- 



