FISH LIFE 41 



fishes. They have, however, very respectable 

 inner ears, built on much the same plan as in 

 higher animals. Indeed many fish, such as the 

 grunts, make various sounds which are plainly 

 audible even to our ears high above the water, and 

 we cannot suppose that this is a useless accom- 

 plishment. But the ears of fishes and the line of 

 tiny tubes which extends along the side may be 

 more effective in recording the tremors of the 

 water transmitted by moving objects than actual 

 sound. 



Watch a lazy catfish winding its way along near 

 the bottom, with its barbels extended, and you 

 will at once realise that fishes can feel, this func- 

 tion being very useful to those kinds which search 

 for their food in the mud at the bottom. 



Not a breath of air stirs the surface of the wood- 

 land pond, and the trees about the margin are 

 reflected unbroken in its surface. The lilies and 

 their pads lie motionless, and in and out through 

 the shadowy depths, around the long stems, float 

 a school of half a dozen little sunfish. They move 

 slowly, turning from side to side all at once as 

 if impelled by one idea. Now and then one will 

 dart aside and snap up a beetle or mosquito larva, 

 then swing back to its place among its fellows. 

 Their beautiful scales flash scarlet, blue, and gold, 

 and their little hand-and-foot fins are ever trem- 

 bling and waving. They drift upward nearer the 



