motes of tbe 1FU0bt 



cant stare peeped at us from the curly crests of 

 the ripples. Long lines of glittering bubbles were 

 left behind them, and then these were scattered 

 by other fish that, following in the same track, 

 went through the same performance, a greeting 

 of glassy stares and beady bubbles. These fish, 

 old Pullen said, were mullet, and I knew by that 

 name he meant a small sucker a catostomoid 

 of the ichthyologists that was found in all our 

 waters, even to the meadow ditches. 



I have spoken of the bubbles of air left in their 

 wake as they passed by the boat. It was easy to 

 detect a faint, sibilant, tinkling sound made by 

 the mullet as these bubbles were left upon the 

 surface, but it was a peculiarly mechanical and 

 accidental sound of no significance. A distinctly 

 vocal note is made at another time of year, not 

 unlike this, but undoubtedly an utterance, and 

 not an accident. Made in the same manner, 

 perhaps, but I think not, but certainly made for 

 a given purpose, and in all essentials an inten- 

 tional call to others of its kind, the movements 

 of the fish indicating this quite conclusively. 

 Such traces of voice in fishes are nothing new to 

 naturalists, and I roused Pullen to discuss the 

 subject from his point of view. 



" Have you ever heard that fish make noises ? " 

 I asked. 



" Sturgeon can grunt and big catfish squeak,'* 

 he replied. 



58 



