26 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



Either a reward should be offered by each state for every 

 porpoise killed in its waters, or gentlemen who compose 

 sporting clubs for taking the game fishes of our coast and 

 estuaries should adopt a plan for capturing and driving them 

 away. The porpoise is one of the most profitable fishes for 

 capture, as its oil is the finest possible, and used exclusively 

 by watchmakers. 



SECTION FOURTH. 



ON VISION IN FISHES. 



The brain and nerves proceeding therefrom, a, a, ft, ft. The lobes of the brain in five 

 ranks, c, c. The nerves of the eye, d, d. The nerves of smell, branching off into di- 

 vergent filaments upon the nostrils, e, e. 



That certain senses are bestowed on a"ll animals, intellect- 

 ual as well as instinctive, is too self-evident to the man of 

 science and the angler to require proof. These animals need 

 both, more than do those which dwell on land, to avoid being 

 devoured, and to aid them in capturing and devouring other 

 fishes ; for their fortifications are often insecure, and they are 

 obliged to leave them frequently, and always to commit 

 slaughter, or to swallow minor species whole. 



In order, therefore, to render this work practical, it is hard- 

 ly necessary that I should dwell upon principles of science 

 farther than to show by the nature and habits of fishes the 

 motives by which they are actuated, which appear to be, in 

 the main, efforts to eat and prevent themselves from being 

 eaten. These efforts, carefully studied, will assist the angler, 

 and the fisher with nets and other devices. Fishes are gen- 



