from their having been known to obey the call of 

 those by whom they were accustomed to be fed. 

 They have also a sufficiently complicated organ, 

 though concealed in general, in the depth of their 

 skull, for this purpose. 



The taste of fishes is also very acute ; and 

 their touch not less so than that of animals in 

 general. It is astonishing, however, what an ex- 

 treme degree of heat some fishes can bear. " In 

 the thermal springs of Bahia in Brazil, many 

 small fishes were seen swimming in a rivulet 

 which raises the thermometer eleven degrees and 

 a half above the temperature of the air. Sonnerat 

 found fishes existing in a hot spring at the Man- 

 illas at a hundred and fifty-eight degrees Faren- 

 heit ; and Humboldt and Bonpland, in travelling 

 in South America, perceived fishes thrown up 

 alive, and apparently in health, from the bottom 

 of a volcano, in the course of its explosions, 

 along with water and heated vapour that raised 

 the thermometer to two hundred and ten degrees, 

 being but two degrees below the boiling point."* 



The bodies of most fishes are covered with 

 small brilliant plates of a horny nature, called 

 scales ; but in certain kinds these are wanting, 

 as in the turbot, in place of which are found 

 osseous or cartilaginous protuberances in some 

 species, and in others a very smooth skin, with- 

 out scales or rugosities, but covered with a thick 

 gelatinous secretion. It was observed by Steno, 

 in ,the skate, that this slimy matter was poured 



* Jameson s Journal. 



