INTRODUCTION 29 



found that the barometer has steadily 

 fallen, and herein lies the explanation of 

 their perversity." 



Many sea-fish, particularly those which, The late 

 like herrings and pilchards, move in shoals JJt]^" s 

 near the surface, and thus come in closer theory, 

 contact than most with the atmospheric 

 conditions, display sensibility to coming 

 storms. The late Matthias Dunn of 

 Mevagissey attributed this to the prompt- 

 ings of a special dermal sense, to which 

 he, in fact, added a seventh, the function 

 of which was to keep them informed of 

 the proximity of those magnetic headlands 

 which abut on the track of their migra- 

 tions. His views, though most ingenious 

 and based on a sincere conviction obvious 

 to all who knew him, did not find general 

 support in scientific circles, but the hy- 

 pothesis of additional senses in some of 

 the inferior animals undoubtedly furnishes 

 a simple explanation for the marvellous 

 manifestations of what we vaguely describe 

 as their instinct. 



Yet these same instincts are not in- 



