156 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



their noses touched the fatal cords. Prompt action 

 was necessary. They had not confidence in their leap- 

 ing-powers ; and both, as though struck with tlie same 

 thought at the same moment, sank suddenly to the bot- 

 tom of the stream, and burrowed into the sand and be- 

 neath the lead line, which was in full view. In a mo- 

 ment they reappeared on the other side of the net, and 

 were gone. I could have prevented the escape of all of 

 these fish, but was so much interested in the evidence 

 of thought exhibited by them that the idea of molesting 

 them did not occur to me. There was something in 

 their manner not readily described, but something which 

 gave an importance to their acts and added materially 

 to the strength of the evidence that they were thinking 

 in all that they did. 



I have long insisted that fish can only be intelligibly 

 described by using such terms as "cunning," "fear," 

 "grief," " ingenuity," and " anger;" and if their actions 

 indicate the possession of such emotions and faculties — 

 and I claim that they do — then there is open to the 

 practical naturalist a vast field for careful study and 

 patient observation. Mr. Romanes, in his volume on 

 "Animal Intelligence," has remarked, " neither in its in- 

 stincts nor in general intelligence can any fish be com- 

 pared with an ant or a bee." This I am forced to dis- 

 pute, when I recall the habits of our fishes ; the posses- 

 sion of the faculties mentioned surely narrows the gulf 

 of which Mr. Romanes speaks. Fish collectively may 

 not be the intellectual equals of ants and bees, but some 

 species reach nearly, if not quite, to their standard ; 

 while probably none are so low in the scale of intelli- 



