TBE SENSES OF FISH. 9 



missing tail grows again. There are instances innumerable 

 in the insect world of an apparent insensibility to pain. 

 Spiders will lose a limb with equanimity. Crabs will 

 hobble off, leaving a claw behind. Frogs seem scarcely to 

 heed also the loss of a limb, and even man, in a savage 

 state, wiU bear an amount of pain almost impossible to 

 realise. The Indian taunts his tormentors when at the 

 stake ; and vithout agreeing with E. W. Emerson, who 

 seems to think that when the nervous system has received 

 a certain shock pain ceases, either by the fainting of the 

 injured, or the flesh becoming benumbed, we may fairly 

 assume that " cruelty to animals," as displayed by anglers, 

 is not a crime of very deep dye. Perch, pike, and even the 

 timid roach, have been known to bite again with previous 

 hooks still sticking in their jaws. Christopher North 

 humorously describes a trout going off with your " hook in 

 one cheek, and his tongue in the other ; " and there is abun- 

 dant evidence to prove to those who are squeamish on the 

 point, that it is not so very barbarous after all ; or they may 

 satisfy their scruples by using none but artificial baits ; and 

 they may be pleased to know that the best naturalists do 

 not impute the struggles of the fish to escape from the 

 hook to the sensation of pain, but rather to surprise and 

 indignation, at finding their free volition interfered with j 

 and that, according to Erasmus Wilson, " motion alone can- 

 not be taken as an index of sensation." 



Ep he can capture a fish, the inexperienced angler will 

 find that he has much to learn ; for though fish may be 

 deficient in sensation, they can see, hear, and move with 

 remarkable quickness. 



The eye of a fish is not only large in proportion to its 

 size, but it is larger in thick and muddy waters than in clear 



