NATURAL HISTORY 17 



to the fish-kettle : the birds, insects, and fish that feed 

 upon the spawn, and harry his young fry ; the otters 

 in the stream and the porpoises and seals in the bay 

 that hunt him in his maturer days ; and last, not least, 

 the numerous engines, nets, traps, poisons, prawns, 

 flies, and minnows devised for his destruction by 

 mankind, few indeed must be the fish that succumb 

 to senile decay. 



Fate cropped him short, for be it understood, 

 He would have lived much longer if he could. 



Day tells us that it has long been known that fish 

 possess the sense of smell. Blind salmon are often 

 captured in good condition, which must have ob- 

 tained food by the use of this sense. The organs of 

 smell are situated as in other animals, but do not 

 communicate with the mouth, and are not related to 

 the function of breathing, as it would injure their 

 delicate lining membrane to be in incessant contact 

 with currents of water. The nostrils are depressions 

 or cavities, with two external openings situated on 

 either side of the middle of the snout. He also tells 

 us that ' hearing is developed in fish, and it is 

 remarkable how any diversity of opinion can exist as 

 to their possessing this sense.' _ He quotes Lacepede 

 for fish which had been kept in the basin of the 

 Tuileries for upwards of a century, coming when called 



c 



