214 FISH HATCHING. 



much rivalry to catch him with the spinning 

 as there is to bring down the stag with the 

 rifle. The fish being so often "tried for," 

 becomes amazingly cunning. 



If we listen to a lecture from a learned 

 professor, upon the brains of animals, he will 

 point out the human brain as being at the 

 highest end of the scale, the brain of the 

 fish at the lowest. Holding up the brain of 

 a trout beautifully prepared in spirits of 

 wine, he will say, " There, gentlemen, is an 

 example of a badly developed brain. The 

 creature to which it belonged is of a low 

 order of intellect." Yet the next day, if we 

 look over a Thames weir, we may behold the 

 same learned but sportless professor puzzling 

 his well-developed brain to catch the creature 

 which but yesterday he was asserting had so 



