PERCH-FISHING 61 



may be inclined to dash at the first bait offered to them, or 

 they may sullenly decline the most seductive delicacies dangled 

 before their noses. This irregularity of conduct is usually 

 explained to be the result of electrical conditions of the atmo- 

 sphere, whereof man is insensible, but to which the organism 

 of fish respond in some peculiar way. The explanation is too 

 vague to be scientific or satisfactory. Have not all fishermen 

 experienced disappointment on what appeared to be an ex- 

 cellent fishing day ? And, on the other hand, have they not 

 scored occasional success under conditions of weather most 

 forbidding ? I may mention in reference to this a suggestive 

 incident which came under my notice some years ago illustrating, 

 though far from explaining, the unaccountable behaviour of fish 

 at uncertain times. It happened in Naples, one morning in 

 January. Mount Vesuvius was capped with snow ; at the 

 sea-level the temperature was coldish, yet not so cold as to 

 prevent me sitting for some time in the sunshine in the 

 gardens of the Villa Nazionale. I then visited Dr. Dohrn in 

 his magnificent Marine Biological Station, and finding that 

 the fish and other animals were just about to be fed, I 

 accompanied him and the feeder in their round of the tanks. 

 All the creatures showed eagerness for their meal, until we 

 came to a tank containing dog-fish of all aquatic creatures 

 most indiscriminately voracious. Much to my surprise they 

 were motionless curled up together in torpid squads at the 

 bottom of the water. tc No use giving them anything to-day," 

 quoth Dr. Dohrn, and, on my expressing surprise that they 

 should be left fasting, he explained that at certain times these 

 fish refused all food, and assumed this semi-torpid state, indiffer- 

 ent to anything that might be offered to them. He considered 

 it probable that this was the result of certain meteorological 

 conditions, which, though imperceptible to ourselves, affected 

 the organism of these fishes in a manner unfavourable to 

 activity. Herein, methought, lies the secret, could we but 

 unravel it, of many an unprofitable day's fishing at home. 



