66 ANGLING. 



the most singular kinds of eye, presented by the 

 class of fishes is that of Anableps, which has two 

 cornese, separated by an opaque line, and two pupils 

 pierced in the same iris, so that even a person not a 

 member of the British Association might deem it 

 double ; but there is only one retina, and a single 

 vitreous and crystalline humour. In accordance 

 with the general structure of the eye of fishes, the 

 nearly spherical form of the crystalline humour, the 

 immobility of the pupil, and the difficulty with 

 which it changes the length of its axis, we cannot 

 but believe that the vision of this class is peculiar, 

 if not comparatively imperfect. Images must be 

 but feebly painted on the retina, and their visual 

 perceptions must be indistinct and dull. Yet it is 

 evident that they perceive their prey from a con- 

 siderable distance ; and the angler who knows 

 either how rapidly they seize, or how cautiously 

 they avoid his lure, and with what discrimination 

 they sometimes prefer one colour or kind of artificial 

 fly to another, must be impressed with the belief 

 that the power of vision, at least in certain species, 

 is by no means devoid of clearness and precision. 

 They certainly see people very distinctly on a bank 

 above them, more so, we think, than from a cor- 

 responding distance when the object is more on 

 their own level, but they are endowed with no 

 such discrimination of persons as that possessed by 

 birds and beasts, and evidently don't know the 

 difference between a boy and a bishop. We have 

 seen the thing tried. 



