ORGANS OF TOUCH. 197 
food. In spite of their scaly covering, the fishes are not uapro- 
vided with organs of touch. The lips in many species are soft, 
and the mouths of others, such as the 
red mullet—for which such enormous 
sums were paid by the Roman epi- 
cures—are provided with barbules 
largely supplied with nerves, which no 
doubt enable them to distinguish the 
objects with which they come in con- 
tact. In the three elongated rays of their pectoral fins the 
gurnards may be said to possess fingers to compensate for their 
bony lips; and in many other fishes these modified arms or 
forefeet are applied as organs of feel- 
ing to ascertain the character of the 
hottomof the water. “ You may witness 
the tactile action of the pectoral fins,” 
says Professor Owen,* “ when gold-fish 
are transferred to a strange vessel ; 
their eyes are so placed as to prevent 
them seeing wkat is below them; so 
they compress their air-bladder, and allow themselves to sink 
near the bottom, which they sweep, as it were, by rapid and 
delicate vibrations of the pectoral fins, apparently ascertaining 
that no sharp stone or stick projects upwards, which might 
injure them in their rapid movements round their prison.” 
Whether fishes possess any high degree of taste is a subject 
not easily proved; but, to judge by the large size of thei 
olfactory nerves, their sense of smell is probably acute. 
The life of fishes is a state of perpetual warfare, a constant 
alternation of flight and pursuit. Prowling through the waters, 
they attack and devour every weaker being they meet, or dart 
uway to escape a similar lot. Many of 
them are provided, besides their swift- _ 
ness and muscular power, with the most @ 
formidable weapons. Thus the Sea- 
wolf has six rows of grinders in each 
jaw, excellently adapted for bruising the crabs and whelks, 
which this voracious animal grinds to pieces, and swallows along 
Red Mullet. 
Gurnard. 
Wolf-Fish.—(Anarrhicas lupus. 
* “Lectures on Comparative Anatomy.” 
P 
