2S6 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



to the remarkable clearness of fish sight. How exceedingly 

 acute is this sense in the perch, an illustration, for the.oppor-; 

 tunity of witnessing which I am indebted to' Mr. Bartlett, the 

 eminent superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, Regent's 

 Park, may be mentioned :■ — 



In the large aquarium, which will be familiar to many of my 

 readers, were placed two plate glass tanks, one containing a 

 pike, and the other half-a-dozen perch. These fish took no 

 notice of our entrance ; and in order to show how supine they 

 were to everything around, Mr. Bartlett dii-ected the keeper to 

 walk several times past their tanks, as if about to feed them. 

 He did so, but failed to evoke the smallest symptom of interest 

 or recognition. Mr. Bartlett then ordered him to walk away 

 from them towards the cupboard where the net with which the 

 baits were caught was kept, desiring me to observe the effect. 

 The keeper accordingly crossed the room (about thirty feet' 

 wide) in the direction indicated, when instantly the stolid de-) 

 meanour of the fish — ^both pike and perch — gave way to the- 

 tnost intense excitement. They rushed to and fro across their: 

 enclosures, straining their noses against the glass, erecting their- 

 fins, and exhibiting every token of agitation ; and when the' 

 keeper, having taken the net, proceeded with it towards the 

 bait-tank, the whole shoal fastened their eyes upon him, follow-, 

 ingevery movement,' and constantly veering round, as if under 

 magnetic attraction, towards whichever part of the room he- 

 turned. I should mention that this occurred in the afternoon,- 

 the usual time of feeding being in the morning ; but by, 

 Mr. Bartlett's direction, the feeding had on this occasion been) 

 postponed until my visit. It iSj therefore, evident that these-^ 

 fish knew where the net was kept, — that the keeper was going to 

 fetch it, — and that his doing so was a necessary preliminary to' 

 their being fed. These perch had been five, and the pike ten; 

 years in the Zoological Ga,rdens, having increased in weight 

 during tha,t time a quarter of a pound and a pound and a half, 

 respectively. 

 • As may begathered from the foregoing incident, per,ch_are 



