Miscellaneous. 77 



of the shaft, kidney-shaped, crumpled, with the polypes scattered on 

 the edge and upper surfaces, especially near the edge. Polypes 

 small, when contracted leaving very small papillae on tlae surface. 



Sarcoptilus grandis. 



Shaft very thick at the base, longitudinally striated. Pinnae 25 

 on each side, the lower one smallest. 



Hab. ? Brit. Mus. 



Length 8 inches. — From the Proceedings of the Zool. Soc. for 

 March 14, 1848. 



Remarkable Instances of Instinct, or Intelligence, in Animals. 

 By Dr. Warwick. 



When he resided at Durham, the seat of the Earl of Stamford and 

 Warrington, he was walking one evening in the park, and came to a 

 pond, where fish intended for the table were temporarily kept. He 

 took particular notice of a fine pike, of about six pounds weight, 

 which, when it observed him, darted hastily awaj^. In so doing, it 

 struck its head against a tenterhook in a post (of which there were 

 several in the pond, placed to prevent poaching), and, as it afterwards 

 appeared, fractured its skull, and turned the optic nerve on one side. 

 The agony evinced by the animal appeared most horrible. It rushed 

 to the bottom, and, boring its head into the mud, whirled itself round 

 with such velocity that it was almost lost to the sight for a short in- 

 terval. It then plunged about the pond, and at length threw itself 

 completely out of the water on to the bank. He (the doctor) went 

 and examined it, and found that a very small portion of the brain 

 was protruding from the fracture in the skull. He carefully replaced 

 this, and, with a small silver tooth-pick, raised the indented portion 

 of the skull. The fish remained still for a short time, and he then 

 put it again into the pond. It appeared at first a good deal relieved, 

 but in a few minutes it again darted and plunged about until it threw 

 itself out of the water a second time. A second time Dr. Warwick 

 did what he could to relieve it, and again put it into the water. It 

 continued for several times to throw itself out of the pond, and, with 

 the assistance of the keeper, the doctor at length made a kind of 

 pillow for the fish, which was then left in the pond to its fate. Upon 

 making his appearance at the pond on the following morning, the 

 pike came towards him to the edge of the water, and actually laid 

 its head upon his foot. The doctor thought this most extraordinary, 

 but he examined the fish's skull, and found it going on all right. He 

 then walked backwards and forwards along the edge of the pond for 

 some time, and the fish continued to swim up and down, turning 

 whenever he turned ; but being blind on the wounded side of its skull, 

 it always appeared agitated when it had that side towards the bank, 

 as it could not then see its benefactor. On the next day he took 

 some young friends down to see the fish, which came to him as usual, 

 and, at length, he actually taught the pike to come to him at his 

 whistle and feed out of his hands. With other persons it continued 



