CHAP. v. Power of Speech in Fish. 83 



Though arguments to this end might be multiplied at pleasure, and 

 are to be found in convincing force in the writings of Sir John Lubbock, 

 in " Mind in the Lower Animals " by W. Lauder Lindsay, M.D., and 

 such like works devoted to the subject, enough for the purpose of this 

 work has probably been said, in passing, to satisfy the reader generally 

 that beasts, birds, and insects can and do converse as freely as human 

 beings, and consequently that there is a presumption in favour of the 

 same faculty being possessed by fish. There being no apparent grounds 

 why fish alone should be an exception to the general rule, and all 

 analogy being favourable to their being able to communicate ideas, we 

 may examine with less incredulity, without any presumption to the 

 contrary, and consequently with more fairness, whether or not there 

 are any indications of their exercising the power which they may well 

 possess. 



I instance first the example above given of a large fish deterring 

 smaller ones from anticipating him in the matter of food ; and I beg a 

 re-perusal of those remarks with less incredulity and more seriousness 

 than was, perhaps, given to them before. I have seen the same with 

 chub also, as well as with Mahseer. I have seen six or eight chub 

 attracted by my floating cockchafer, and apparently meditating taking 

 it, when they hung back, divided, and made way for a comparatively 

 much larger chub of 2f Ibs., who sailed majestically up to the bait, 

 and took it leisurely down, with a seeming confidence that the others 

 would not presume to anticipate him. He must have made them 

 understand, even though he came from behind them, that he desired 

 to have that cockchafer himself, and he must have felt confident that 

 he had expressed himself explicitly, and would be attended to. The 

 same conclusion seems to be pointed at by the frequently deliberate 

 way in which a large trout sucks down his fly, in contradistinction to 

 the hurried dart of the smaller trout. 



Furthermore, how is it that when a river is much whipped, the fish 

 all get very shy? I do not suppose they have all been pricked by the 

 hook and got away, so as to have gained wisdom each by personal 

 experience. Surely there are too many thousands in the river for that, 

 and too many more thousands fresh born every year. Those that have 

 been hook-pricked, not an inconsiderable number certainly, are not 

 improbably able to communicate the fact to the others, and not till a 

 large proportion of the community have thus suffered, is much weight 



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