32 FLY-FISHING AND FLY-MAKING. 



large, massive molar teeth crush and masticate, in the 

 throat of them all, whatever food is passed, and it would 

 seem extraordinary to me if by sight alone this " fox of 

 the water " builds up his oft-times colossal form and fat. 



IV. SMELL. 



I think, after what I have seen of the manifestations 

 of this sense in fishes that it does not exist in such a 

 high state of development as does even taste. The sense 

 of smell in air depends on the perception of minute par- 

 ticles thrown off by the odorate body. Hence, the ne- 

 cessity for a refined sense of smell does riot exist in 

 water, for it cannot be supposed that particles of any 

 object could diffuse themselves in the denser medium 

 with the rapidity and completeness with which they do it 

 in air. 



Nevertheless, fishes possess nostrils, though these have 

 no communication with the gills or mouth cavity. I re- 

 member that Mr. Frank Buckland passed a fine bristle 

 far into the head of a thirty-six pound pike (caught by 

 my late father in Windsor Great Park) he was casting, in 

 my presence some years ago, from each of the small ori- 

 fices which extend in a row on either side of the muzzle. 



Pollutions of the water are avoided by fish ; and when 

 some poisonous chemical refuse was once thrown into a 

 stream under my care, I saw many fish throw themselves 

 out upon the banks to avoid encountering the horrible 

 corroding flood. This, however, might have been due 

 to an impending sense of suffocation, and the pain con- 

 sequent on the cauterizing effect the poison had on the 

 branchice. Fish are not adverse to even a large amount 



