INSTINCTS AND EMOTIONS IN FISH. 45 



bite ; while by inflating its body, the papillae with which the skin 

 is covered become erect and pointed*. Mr. "Whitmee observes : — 

 " I have seen a Balistes (File-fish) swim rapidly past its anta- 

 gonist and graze its side with its file-like lateral spines." " I once 

 tried to catch a Tetrodon nigripunctatus which was in my aqua- 

 rium, when it inflated itself and elevated the fine spines with 

 which the body was covered, and which were previously buried 

 in its loose and flabby skin. This of course was under the influ- 

 ence of fear"f. Siluroids are furnished with more than one mode 

 of attack. In the Ohio exists a species of this family, in which the 

 first dorsal ray is formed of a very stroDg and short spine, which 

 the animal uses to kill others of a smaller size ; for this purpose 

 it gets beneath the fish it intends to attack, and then sud- 

 denly rises and wounds it repeatedly in the belly. There is ano- 

 ther curious form in Burma {Macrones leucopliasis) said to swim 

 with its belly uppermost, therefore termed by the Burmese the 

 " Topsy-turvey fish;" it probably ascends to above its prey. 

 Lately I have been favoured with the sight of a drawing of a fish, 

 Bagrus, existing in the Nile which is observed, while in an aqua- 

 rium, to swim in a similar manner. Siluroids likewise erect the 

 osseous and armed spines of their dorsal and pectoral fins. Some 

 years since, while stationed at Madras, I obtained several live ex- 

 amples of these fishes, Macrones vittatus, termed the Fiddler-fish 

 in Mysore. I touched one which was lying on some wet grass ; 

 it became very irate, erecting its armed spines and emitting a 

 sound resembling the buzzing of a bee, evidently a sign of anger 

 or terror. Having placed some small Carp in an aquarium con- 

 taining one of these fish, it rushed at a small example, seized it 

 by the middle of its back, and shook it as a dog kills a rat : at 

 this time its barbels were stiffened out laterally like a cat's 

 whiskers. Couch observes of the Stickleback, or Pricklebacks, that 

 " the bite of these little furies is so severe, that I have frequently 

 known it, when inflicted on the tail, produce mortification and con- 

 sequently death. They also use their lateral spines (ventral fins) 

 with most fatal effect, that, incredible as it may appear, I have 

 seen one during a battle absolutely rip his opponent quite open, 

 so that he sank to the bottom and died." 



Jesse mentions a gentleman walking by the side of the river 

 "Wey who observed a large Pike in shallow water. Pulling off 

 * Darwin, ' Voyage of Beagle,' iii. p. 13. 

 t Whitmee, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 133. 



