92 Book of the Black Bass. 



CHAPTER VII. 



INTELLIGENCE AND SPECIAL SENSES. 



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

 Piseator. 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. Francis Day, in 

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

 land, 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, recog- 

 nized human beings, could be tamed, exhibited the emo- 

 tions 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 de- 

 fense; that they left the water in search of food, and that 

 they sometimes combined for attack and defense. 



Every observant angler and naturalist has, in his own 

 experience, proved the truth of many of the above asser- 

 tions, and, no doubt, some have observed traits of intelli- 

 gence still more convincing. 



The wonderful faculty of anadromous fishes, seeking out 

 and ascending their native streams during the breeding 



