Literary Notices. 277 



Herrick, C. Judson. The Organ and Sense of Taste in Fishes. U. S. Fish 

 Commission Bulletin for 1 902, pp. 237-272, 1904. 



The sense of taste in fishes is subserved by a portion of the com- 

 munis system of neurones. The sensory organs of this gustatory sys- 

 tem are either 'taste buds' situated in the mouth and on the lips, or 

 else terminal buds or end buds {Endknospcn, Becherorgane) situated on 

 the outer surface of the head and body and on the fins. These organs 

 have a general resemblance to one another, and are histologically dis- 

 tinguishable from the neuromasts {Nervenhilgel) of the lateral-line sys- 

 tem. The outer surface of the body is further provided with sense 

 organs of touch having their own distinct innervation. It has been 

 asserted and denied that the end buds or Becherorgane, found in the 

 outer skin of the body and fins, serve the sense of taste rather than of 

 touch ; but this paper seems to establish conclusively that they are 

 organs of taste. 



The proof is as follows. The cat-fish {Ameiurus nebulosus) nor- 

 mally makes very little use of its eyes in getting food, but wanders 

 about waving its barblets gently back and forth or trailing them on 

 the bottom, and darting instantly at any game that they happen to 

 touch. The fish darts in just the same way at a piece of meat (on 

 the end of a wire) that is brought in contact with the barblets or any 

 part of the head or body ; and the reaction is quite independent of 

 the animal's seeing or not seeing the food. Now if cotton is substituted 

 for the meat, the animal will respond in the same way for five or six 

 times, but will then no longer respond to cotton although it will at 

 once respond again to meat. In other words, after a very brief train- 

 ing Ameiurus responds to taste but not to touch. That the response 

 is really to taste and not to different qualities of touch is proved by the 

 fact that while plain cotton remains unnoticed, cotton soaked in meat 

 juice is snapped up instantly. "These experiments seem to show that 

 in the reaction to meat, both from the barblet and from the skin of the 

 body, the senses of taste and touch both participate. This is in accord 

 with the known innervation of the skin and barblets, for all parts of 

 the body surface receive general cutaneous (tactile) nerves, and all 

 parts are plentifully provided with terminal buds (taste buds) which 

 are innervated by communis (gustatory) nerves." The described re- 

 action does not take place unless the stimulus is actually in contact 

 with the skin, and yet the fieh becomes somewhat restless in near 

 proximity to the stimulus, specially if the latter is a piece of meat that 

 has become stale. In order to explain this Professor Herrick sug- 

 gests a 'sense of smell', meaning by this a stimulation of sensory 



