304 



ON THE 

 SENSE OF HEARING IN FISHES 



[The following letter was evidently intended for publication, but whe- 

 ther in the series addressed to Pennant or in that to Barrington cannot be 

 ascertained. It is headed, as all the others are, " To the same/' and with 

 a number affixed written in pencil, but so worn as to be illegible. There 

 is no date, and the words " Hints but not finished" are prefixed. It is a 

 rough copy, with many verbal corrections. T. B.] 



IT has long been a question among naturalists whether 

 Fishes hear or not. This subject I should make no scruple to 

 take in the negative ; and without being biassed, or indeed 

 without knowing what has been said before, shall proceed to 

 give you my thoughts in my own way. And here I would be 

 understood to mean Fishes strictly so catted ; for it is well 

 known that cetaceous Fishes,, the Belluce marines, are furnished 

 with ears, like quadrupeds, though the perforations are very 

 small. 



When people advance that Fishes do hear, I would answer 

 that after the strictest examination, the best modern Ichthy- 

 ologists assure us they are destitute of any kind of organs for 

 that purpose. "Pisces destituumtur auribus auriculisque," 

 says Linnaeus. 



But then if Fishes do not hear, some will say how do tame 

 fishes in stews and canals come to be fed at the sound of a 

 whistle? That fishes used to be fed will come when their 



