2 4 01?- FISHES IN GENERAL. 



has not been able to difcover any auditory organs In this 

 clafs of the animal kingdom*. Mr. Klein, however, 

 imagines he has found out organs of this fenfe ; and he 

 has allotted fol: that purpofe, thofe bones which are 

 found in the head of fome fifties f. But thefe are fo dif- 

 fimilar to the organs of hearing in other animals, that it 

 is improbable, that Nature intended them for that pur- 

 pofe ; and, befides, there are many fpecies, in which they 

 •are not to be difcovered. 



But although Nature, in their conformation, had made 

 a provifion lor the hearing of fifties, that fenfe muft; have 

 been extremely limited and imperfeft, from the nature of 

 the element which they inhabit. Experiments have 

 been made on the capacity of water to tranfmit founds ; 

 and by thefe it has been found, that it is capable of con- 

 veying them but a fliort way ; for it quickly deadens that 

 vibration upon which they depend. A man whofe head 

 is one foot immerfed in water, hears voices and words 

 littered in the air ; but, when funk to the depth of twelve 

 feet, he fcarcely hears a mulket fliot, though difcharged 

 over his head. Hence it is probable, that Nature has 

 made no organic apparatus to convey founds to fifties, 

 fmce flie has forever configned them to an element, 

 which muft, in a great meafure, have defeated its pur- 

 pofe. 



Rondeietius %, and feveral of the old naturalifts, who 

 plead for the hearing of fiflieSj; allege, in proof of it, that 

 certain kinds of them are fo afi'eded with noifc, that 

 they become unwholefome after thunder ; and that, in 

 ponds where they are tamed, in fome places of Ge7many^ 

 they are convened regularly by the call of a bell to their 



food, 



• Syflema Naturse. f VlJc Hiftcriam Pifcium. 



\ Rondcl.de pifcibus, lib. 7. cap. 14. 



