216 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



But although we may convince ourselves of the truth of 

 this remark, by an examination of those on our own shores, 

 we should not limit our view to them, but extend it to those 

 of other seas. There, with new forms we find new vestments. 

 Thus, the Trunk-fish* (Ostracion, Fig. 180), and the Pipe- 

 fishes of our own 

 shores (Fig. 182), in- 

 stead of being covered 

 with flexible scales, 

 are clad in a covering 

 of bony plates firmly 

 united together, re- 

 Fig. 180. TRUNK-FISH. minding us of a tesse- 

 lated pavement; and if we look back to those which in remote 

 eras were the inhabitants of these seas, and whose remains 

 are found embedded in rocks of marine formation in different 

 parts of these islands, we find numerous tribes whose coats 

 of mail did not consist of bone but of enamel. 



SENSES. The sense of feeling can scarcely be exerted in its 

 fullest extent by the bodies of fishes, covered as they are with 

 their scaly integuments. From this remark, however, we 

 should except the long cirri or feelers of certain fishes, which 

 are placed about the mouth. "These appendages," says 

 Mr. Yarrell, "are to them delicate organs of 'touch, by which 

 all the species provided with them are enabled to ascertain, 

 to a certain extent, the qualities of the various substances 

 with which they are brought in contact; and are analogous in 

 function to the beak, with its distribution of nerves, among cer- 

 tain wading and swimming birds which probe for food beyond 

 their sight; and may be considered another instance, among 

 the many beautiful provisions of Nature, by which, in the case 

 of fishes feeding at great depths, where light is deficient, com- 

 pensation is made for consequent imperfect vision."! As the 



cerned with the utmost ease by the naked eye. The scales of the Salmon 

 answer best for the purpose, as they are large and easily detached." " On 

 Certain Appearances Observed in the Dissection of the Eyes of Fishes." 

 Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh. 1815. 



The slender, flat, silvery bodies, here named " spicula," are perfectly 

 opaque, and must therefore be examined under the microscope by reflected, 

 not by transmitted light : when thus seen their brilliancy is almost too 

 great for the eye to sustain. Idem. 



* M. Edwards's " Siemens," p. 303. Roget, p. 432, 



t British Fishes, p. 30. 



