CHAP, i.j TFIE SENSES OF FISH. 3 



for a moment be compared with that plentiful poor man's fish 

 the beautiful common herring of our British waters. 



If the breathing apparatus of a fish were to become dry 

 the animal would at once be suffocated. A fish when in the 

 water has very little weight to support, as its specific gravity 

 is about the same as that of the water in which it lives, and 

 the bodies of these animals are so flexible as to aid them in all 

 their movements, while the various fins assist either in bal- 

 ancing the body or in helping it to progress. The motion of a 

 fish is excessively rapid ; it can dash along in the water with 

 lightning-like velocity. Many of our sea fish are curiously 

 shaped, such as the hammer-headed shark, the globe-fish, the 

 monk-fish, the angel-fish, etc. ; then we have the curious forms 

 of the rays, the Pluronectidre, and of some others that I may 

 call "fancy fish ;" but fish of all kinds are admirably adapted 

 to their mode of life and the place where they live as for 

 instance, in a cave where light has never penetrated there 

 have been found fish without eyes. Fresh-water fish do not, 

 however, vary much in shape, most of them being very 

 elegant. Fish are nearly insensible to pain, and are cold- 

 blooded, their blood being only two degrees warmer than the 

 element in which they swim. It is worthy of being noted 

 also that fish have small brains in comparison to the size of 

 their bodies considerably smaller in proportion than in the 

 case of the birds or mammalia, but the nerves communicating 

 with the brain are as large in fish, proportionately, as in 

 either the birds or mammalia, So far as personal knowledge 

 goes, I believe the senses of sight and hearing are well deve- 

 loped in most fish, as also those of smell and taste, particu- 

 larly the sense of smell, which chiefly guides them to their 

 food. We may take for granted, I think, that fish have a 

 very keen sense of smell more so than most other animals ; 

 and thus it is that strong-smelling baits are so successful in 

 fishing. The French people, for instance, when fishing for 



