FISH— GENEKAL INTELLIGENCE. 251 



In 'Nature ' (vol. xi., p. 48) Mr. Mitchell gives the 

 following instance of intelligence on the part of a small 

 perch. Having one day disturbed its nest full of young 

 fry, Mr. Mitchell next day went to look for the nest; 

 ' but we searched in vain for the fish and her young. At 

 length, a few yards further up stream, we discovered the 

 parent guarding her fry with jealous care in a cavity 

 scooped out of the coarse sand. . . . This is the first and 

 only instance that has come under my notice of a fish 

 watching over her young, and conveying them, when 

 threatened with danger, to some other place.' 



In * Nature' (December 19, 1878) there is also pub- 

 lished a communication which was made by Mr. J. Faraday 

 to the Manchester Anglers' Association, concerning a skate 

 which he observed in the aquarium of that town : — 



A morsel of food thrown into the tank fell directly in an 

 angle formed by the glass front and the bottom. The skate, a 

 large example, made several vain attempts to seize the food, 

 owing to its mouth being on the underside of its head and the 

 food being close to the glass. He lay quite still for a while as 

 though thinking, then suddenly raised himself into a slanting 

 posture, the head inclined upwards, and the under surface of 

 the body towards the food, when he waved his broad expanse of 

 fins, thus creating an upward current or wave in the water, 

 which Hfted the food from its position and carried it straight to 

 his mouth. 



It will be observed, however, that this observation is 

 practically worthless, from the observer having neglected 

 to repeat the conditions in order to show that the move- 

 ments of the fish were not, in their adaptation to these 

 circumstances, purely accidental. Therefore I should not 

 have alluded to this observation, had I not found that it 

 has been quoted by several writers as a remarkable display 

 of intelHgence on the part of the fish. 



I must not take leave of this class without making 

 some allusion to the alleged habits of the so-called ' pilot- 

 fish,' and also to those of ' thresher ' and * sword-fish.' I 

 class these widely different habits together because they 

 are alike in being dubious ; different observers give differ- 

 ent accounts, and therefore, until more information is 



