Mosr Fisnes are Suort-siGHTED. 33 
stricted idea of its resemblance to nature, the likeness must 
be scarcely perceptible, owing to the difference of motion and 
the great variety of directions in which the angler draws his 
flies, according to the nature and locality of the current and 
the prevailing direction of the wind.” 
The sight of fishes is like that of all animals with round 
and convex eyes. Ifthe angler will stand quite still in the 
water, fish will not fear to congregate about him, or to flap 
his legs with their fins; but with his slightest motion they 
dart to their hiding-places. The convexity of the eye pro- 
duces short-sightedness in man as well as in quadrupeds, 
birds, and fishes. The round eye is inferior to the almond- 
shaped for distinguishing form: thus round-eyed animals and 
fishes mistake a man for an inanimate object, and, from their 
shortness of vision, approach him without fear. These gen- 
eral and specific reasons convince me that fishes are short- 
sighted, and that, while quick to detect action, they are slow 
to distinguish form. 
SECTION FIFTH. 
ON TASTE IN FISIIES. 
The sense of taste in both birds and fishes, which subsist 
on similar food, is less acute than in other animals, a circum- 
stance strongly indicated by the hard, gristly texture of the 
tongue when it exists, which it may scarcely be said to do 
in all fishes, though it is very distinct in the Cyprinide, and 
rather less so in the genus Salmo. 
Dr. Rennie states that numerous experiments made by him 
on birds whose food consists of small fruit and insects, which 
they swallow without breaking, leads him to conclude that 
they choose some and reject others, not by taste, but by 
touch, probably aided by smell; and he adds, “I have no 
doubt it is the same with fishes; at least it is obvious, from 
their so generally swallowing their food without chewing or 
bruising it, that, even if they possessed acute taste, it could 
not aid them in the discrimination.” 
Cc 
