256 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



to the remarkable clearness of fish sight. How exceedingly 

 acute is this sense in the perch, an illustration, for the oppor- 

 tunity of witnessing which I am indebted to Mr. Bartlett, the 

 eminent superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, Regent's 

 Park, may be mentioned : 



In the large aquarium, which will be familiar to many of my 

 readers, were placed two plate glass tanks, one containing a 

 pike, and the other half-a-dozen perch. These fish took no 

 notice of our entrance ; and in order to show how supine they 

 were to everything around, Mr. Bartlett directed the keeper to 

 walk several times past their tanks, as if about to feed them. 

 He did so, but failed to evoke the smallest symptom of interest 

 or recognition. Mr. Bartlett then ordered him to walk away 

 from them towards the cupboard where the net with which the 

 baits were caught was kept, desiring me to observe the effect. 

 The keeper accordingly crossed the room (about thirty feet 

 wide) in the direction indicated, when instantly the stolid de- 

 meanour of the fish both pike and perch gave way to the 

 most intense excitement. They rushed to and fro across their 

 enclosures, straining their noses against the glass, erecting their 

 fins, and exhibiting every token of agitation ; and when the 

 keeper, having taken the net, proceeded with it towards the 

 bait-tank, the whole shoal fastened their eyes upon him, follow- 

 ing every movement, and constantly veering round, as if under 

 magnetic attraction, towards whichever part of the room he 

 turned. I should mention that this occurred in the afternoon, 

 the usual time of feeding being in the morning ; but by 

 Mr. Bartlett's direction, the feeding had on this occasion been 

 postponed until my visit. It is, therefore, evident that these 

 fish knew where the net was kept, that the keeper was going to 

 fetch it, and that his doing so was a necessary preliminary to 

 their being fed. These perch had been five, and the pike ten 

 years in the Zoological Gardens, having increased in weight 

 during that time a quarter of a pound and a pound and a half, 

 respectively. 



As may be gathered from the foregoing incident, perch are 



