ORGANS OF TODC^. 



197 



Ked Mullet. 



food. In spite of their scaly covering, the fishes are not unpro- 

 vided with organs of touch. The lips in many species are soft, 

 and the mouths of others, such as the 

 red mullet — for which such enormous 

 sums were paid by the Eoman epi- 

 cures — are provided with barbules 

 largely supplied with nerves, which no 

 doubt enable them to distinguish the 

 objects with which they come in con- 

 tact. In the three elongated rays of their pectoral fins the 

 gurnards may be said to possess fingers to compensate for their 

 bony lips ; and in many other fishes these modified arms or 

 forefeet are applied as organs of feel- 

 ing to ascertain the character of the 

 bottom of the water. " You may witness 

 the tactile action of the pectoral fins," 

 says Professor Owen,* " when gold-fish 

 are transferred to a strange vessel; 

 their eyes are so placed as to prevent 

 them seeing what is below them; so 

 they compress tneir air-bladder, and allow themselves to sink 

 near the bottom, which they sweep, as it were, by rapid and 

 delicate vibrations of the pectoral fins, apparently ascertaining 

 that no sharp stone or stick projects upwards, which might 

 injure them in their rapid movements round their prison." 

 Whether fishes possess any high degree of taste is a subject 

 not easily proved ; but, to judge by the large size of theii 

 olfactory nerves, their sense of smell is probably acute. 



The life of fishes is a state of perpetual warfare, a constant 

 alternation of flight and pursuit. Prowling through the waters, 

 they attack and devour every weaker being they meet, or dart 

 away to escape a similar lot. Many of 

 them are provided, besides their swift- 

 ness and muscular power, with the most 

 formidable weapons. Thus the Sea- 

 wolf has six rows of grinders in each 

 jaw, excellently adapted for bruising the crabs and whelks, 

 which this voracious animal grinds to pieces, and swallows along 



Gurnard. 



Wolf-Fish.— (Anarrlncas lupua.- 



* " Lectures on Comparative Anatomy." 

 P 



