Chapt.-V. Speech ordinarily co-existent with hearing. 73 



with human beings, though fish have the sense of hearing, 

 and whatever may be said about the musical sea sounds, 

 Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in his very interesting Natural 

 History of Ceylon, has nevertheless remarked not without 

 force, that "organs of hearing have been clearly ascer- 

 tained to exist not only in fishes, but in mollusca. In 

 "the oyster the presence of an acoustic apparatus of the 

 "simplest possible construction has been established by 

 "the discoveries of Siebold, and from our knowledge of 

 "the reciprocal relations existing between the faculties 

 "of hearing and of producing sounds, the ascertained ex- 

 istence of the one affords legitimate grounds for infer- 

 "ring the co-existence of the other in animals of the same 

 "class." Still it is not necessary to my argument that 

 the communication should be made even by sounds in- 

 audible to the human ear. It is equally comprehensible 

 that, as in the case of ants and animals, they may be 

 made by distinct means, means of which we have no 

 knowledge. All I argue is, that it is natural that they 

 should communicate in some way or other, and that they 

 seem to do so. This may appear a strange theory to some ; 

 but "there are more things in heaven and earth than are 

 "dreamt of in our philosophy." 



This brings me to another sense, the sense of smell in 

 fishes in connection with the immediate subject of this 

 chapter. 



It was out of the question of the size of the bait to be 

 used, that this digression about the intelligence and com- 

 municative power of fish grew; and the next question is 



10 



