FISHES AND FISHING. 81 



ville, 1822. MOUF. Le Baron G. Cuvier et M. Va 

 lenciennes, 1828. Professors Otto and Heusinger, 

 1826. Dissertations on the Organ of Hearing in 

 Man, Reptiles, and Fish ; Geoffroi. Amsterdam, 

 1 778. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes com 

 pared with those of Man, &c. ; Monro. Edinburgh, 

 1785. Observations on Animal Economy; John 

 Hunter. London, 1792. Many of these, with Mons. 

 Breschet's well-written work, I have. 



Breschet, in quoting from Monro, p. 48, would lead 

 us to think that Monro asserted all large fish had an 

 external auditory passage, whereas that celebrated 

 anatomist was only there alluding to the skate, which 

 genera have two small holes, or external auditory 

 passages, terminating in a comparatively large sac, 

 containing a white, opaque, and viscid matter, which 

 must be of an alkaline character, for it effervesces 

 violently if an acid be introduced to it. The whale 

 species have also two external auditory passages, but 

 they are only like the skate in point of size exter 

 nally, namely, sufficient to admit the head of a small 

 pin. In the whale genus, the bottom of this passage 

 s closed by a membrana tympani, membrane of the 

 drum, vulgo drum of the ear, to the interior of which 

 membrane are attached a chain of small bones, and 

 other organized parts as in terrestrial animals. 

 , A work on "Diseases of the Ear" consisting of 



G 



