CHAPTER VII. 



INTELLIGENCE AND SPECIAL SENSES. 







Venator. But, master ! do not trouts see us, in the night ? 

 Piscator. Yes; and hear, and smell, too, both then and in the day-time. 

 IZAAK WALTON. 



THE brain of fishes differs so materially in size, con- 

 formation, substance and analogy from that of other ani- 

 mals, that it has been the rule of specialists to attribute to 

 this class of vertebrates a very low order of intelligence. 

 In opposition to this theory, however, Dr. F. Day recently 

 read a paper before the Linnsean Society of London, En- 

 gland, in which he endeavored to show that fishes possessed 

 a far higher order of intelligence than is usually accorded 

 them. 



He claimed that the experience of himself and others 

 indicated that they possessed emotions and affections, and 

 in support of that view he showed that they constructed 

 nests, transported and defended their eggs, protected their 

 young, manifested their affections for each other, recognized 

 human beings, could be tamed, exhibited the emotions of 

 fear, anger, and revenge, uttered sounds, hid from danger, 

 sought protection by attaching themselves to the bodies of 

 other animals, and had peculiar modes of defense ; that 

 they left the water in search of food, and that they some- 

 times combined for attack and defense. 



Every observant angler and naturalist has, in his own 



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