SOUNDS FROM FISH. 247 



exceeding a quarter of a pound. Pray what 

 have you done ? 



PISCATOK. My doings have been much the 

 same as yoiirs, with the addition of a sea-trout, 

 which I did not expect to take at this season, 

 one of about two pounds, in good con- 

 dition and evidently a fresh run fish. 



AMICUS. In handling two or three of the 

 trout I took to day, the instant they were 

 drawn out of the water, I am confident they 

 emitted a sound, which has perplexed me, 

 knowing that they have no voice, no vocal 

 organ. 



PISCATOR. I have often made the same re- 

 mark in handling freshly taken trouts. From 

 the observations I have made since my attention 

 has been directed to it, I am satisfied it is 

 owing to the escape of air from the air-bladder 

 compressed by the hand, and its passing 

 through the orifice opening into the gullet. If 

 you make the trial under water, you will wit- 

 ness its verification. The circumstance, I may 

 remind you, is in accordance with the idea en- 

 tertained by some physiologists, that the air- 

 bladder is the analogue of the lung. We are 

 losing time. See the table is spread in the 



B 4 



