80 FISHES AND FISHING. 



Persons who have not thought upon the subject, or 

 whose education has not comprised any knowledge of 

 comparative anatomy, express sometimes doubts 

 whether fishes have the sense of hearing. Without 

 entering into a prolix account of the anatomy of the 

 organ of hearing in fish, I shall proceed to give such 

 concise observations on this interesting portion of the 

 animal economy, which has occupied the attention of 

 the most celebrated anatomists of the continent, and 

 some in our own country. I have not had many 

 opportunities of examining the organs of hearing, in 

 any great variety of this class of created beings, 

 neither can I in this little work enter into the exten- 

 sive field of comparative anatomy. I must, therefore, 

 refer those persons desirous of further investigation to 

 the works mentioned by Brechet, or, if they have 

 time and ingenuity sufficient, to investigate the subject 

 themselves. 



The work just alluded to is, " Anatomical and 

 Physiological Researches, as to the Organ of Hearing 

 in Fish," by Gilbert Breschet, Professor of the 

 Faculty of Medicine of Paris, Member of the French 

 Institute, &c., &c. ; 4to., with 17 Anatomical Plates. 

 Paris : 1838. This work is in the French language : 

 some of the notes are in English. Amongst other 

 works M. Breschet refers to, are those of E. H. 

 Waber; Leipsic, 1820. H. M. Ducrotay de Blain- 



