216 MR. F. DAY ON FEAR AND ANGER IN FISHES. [Feb. 19, 



vanquished ; this reacts on his health, and as a result his brilliant 

 hues fade away. The conqueror, on the other hand, exulting in 

 his victory becomes more resplendent ; he does not forget his former 

 triumph, and considers it no disgrace to occasionally lord it over his 

 beaten foe. 



" Fear is shown by fish in many ways. ' When hooked or netted 

 they sometimes empty their stomachs by an instinctive act of fear, 

 or to facilitate escape by lightening their load ' (Owen, Comp. 

 Anat. i. p. 419). There is not an angler unacquainted with the 

 natural timidity of fishes, nor a keeper in charge of a salmon-pass, 

 who does not know how easy it is for poachers to deter the salmon 

 from venturing along the path raised expressly for his use. 



" Amongst the coral-reefs of the Andaman Islands I found the 

 little Heliastes lepidurus abundant. As soon as the water was 

 splashed they appeared to retire for safety to the branching coral, 

 where no large fish could follow them ; so frightened did they 

 become, that on an Andamanese diving from the side of the boat, 

 they at once sought shelter in the coral, in which they remained 

 until it was removed from the sea. In Burma F observed, in 1869, 

 that when weirs are not allowed to stretch across the rivers (which 

 would impede navigation), the open side as far as the bank, is 

 studded with reeds ; these, as the water passes over them, cause 

 vibration, and occasion a curious sound alarming the fishes, which, 

 crossing to the weired side of the river, become captured. 



" Under the influence of fear or anger the well-known Climbing 

 Perch of India (Anabas scandens) not only erects its spiny-rayed 

 fins and its gill-covers, but also the scales on its body, even down to 

 those along the base of the caudal fin ' ; this to a less extent, 

 perhaps, appears common to spiny- rayed forms. 



" Hooker, alluding to Gulls, Terns, Wild Geese and Pelicans in the 

 Ganges valley, observes, * These birds congregate by the sides of 

 pools and beat the water with violence, so as to scare the fish, 

 which then become an easy prey — a fact which was, I believe, first 

 indicated by Pallas during his residence on the banks of the Caspian 

 Sea ' 2 . Fishes, under the influence of terror, dash about with their 

 fins expanded, and often run into places which must destroy them. 

 Thus droves and droves of Sardines in the East, impelled by the 

 terror of pursuing Sharks, Bonitoes, Seir, and other voracious fishes, 

 frequently throw themselves on the shores in enormous quantities. 

 Friar Odoric, who visited Ceylon about 1 320, says, ' There are fishes 

 in those seas that come swimming towards the said country in 

 such abundance, that for a great distance into the sea nothing can 

 be seen but the backs of fishes, which, casting themselves on the 

 shore, do suffer men for the space of three daies to come, and to 

 take as many of them as they please, and then they return again 

 into the sea ' 3 . 



" Fishes frequently show distinct signs of affection. Yarrell 

 ('British Fishes') mentions how a person who had kept two 



» ' Fishes of Malabar ' (1865), p. 133. 



2 Himalayan Journals, vol. i. p. 80. 3 Hakluyt. vol. ii. p. 37. 



