THE BASSES: FRES H-W ATER AND MARINE 



dying makes moans and sobs disagreeably human. 

 Take it for all in all, we cannot but believe that 

 fish have the power of making intelligent commu- 

 nication one to the other, and we have frequently 

 noted, or thought we did, a kind of knowing look 

 about their eyes which led us to credit them with 

 meaning unutterable things. 



The scientists tell us that in many fishes no trace 

 exists of an organ of hearing; that the tympanum, 

 its cavity, and the external parts of the ear, are 

 entirely absent; that in others this organ is only 

 imperfectly developed, and that in the remaining 

 few such as the shark, the shad, the herring, and 

 others there is an odd connection between the 

 organ of hearing and the air-bladder. With these 

 crude facts before him, the ichthyologist leaves the 

 angler to work out the answer to the question, 

 " Can fish hear? " which is a most practical one to 

 the careful angler in his pursuit of the educated 

 game-fish of our inland waters. 



Fish do not seem to hear sound originating in 

 the air. Place a cannon upon an india-rubber car- 

 riage, sufficiently large and elastic to deaden all 

 concussion upon the ground, and Mr. Fish, after 

 the gun has been fired, will be as placid in his pool 

 as a gourmand after dinner. But step as lightly 

 as one may upon the margin of a stream, and the 

 fish will scatter like shot from the near shallows 

 where they are feeding or frolicking. The larger 



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