AUTHOR’S ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 
BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, MARCH 30. 
ON TACTILE RESPONSES OF THE DE-EYED HAMLET 
(EPINEPHELUS STRIATUS)! 
W. J. CROZIER 
1. The observations herein discussed grew out of a first attempt 
to examine the physiology of excitation of the ‘common chemical’ 
sense in a teleost bearing a well-developed investment of scales. 
The work contemplated was rendered impossible, for reasons 
which will shortly appear, but the cause of the failure has a, dis- 
tinct bearing upon the original problem and a certain signifi- 
cance in several other directions as well. 
Epinephelus striatus Bloch, the ‘hamlet’ or ‘grouper,’ was 
used in these experiments. The tests which were contemplated 
involved the local application of. solutions to the skin of the 
hamlet, and it was necessary to employ fishes in which the 
chance of visual response had been eliminated. Recourse was 
had to the removal of the eyes rather than to the use of temporary 
blinding devices. Hamlets are exceedingly handy, and the re- 
moval of one or both eyes, usually while under chloretone anaes- 
thesia, was followed. by quick recovery. Blinded individuals 
lived in the laboratory for more than four months. 
In preliminary tests different regions of the surface of de-eyed 
hamlets were examined by applying to them from a pipette small 
volumes of acid and other solutions. Control experiments quickly 
demonstrated, however, that these fishes were reactive to the 
mere presence (or near approach) of the undischarged pipette, 
even when it contained only sea-water. A thoroughly cleaned 
glass rod, when carefully brought near a de-eyed hamlet, also 
induced responses of a deliberate and well-defined character. 
A very pronounced degree of sensitivity is manifest in these 
responses, and the source of stimulation is rather precisely located 
1 Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. No. 86. 
163 
