INSTINCTS AND EMOTIONS IN FISH. 47 



the Electric Ray or Torpedo, commonly known as the Cramp- 

 fish, Torpedo hebetans and T. marmorata. The instant it is 

 touched it numbs not only the hand and arm, but its effects are 

 said sometimes to extend to the whole of the body. This electric 

 shock is thus described by Kempfer : — The nerves are so affected 

 that the person struck imagines all the bones of his body, and 

 particularly those of the limb that received the blow, are driven 

 out of joint. It is accompanied with a universal terror, a sick- 

 ness of the stomach, a general convulsion, and a total suspension 

 of the mind. As examples of the Surmullet and Plaice have been 

 found inside Torpedos, while it is manifestly impossible they 

 could have captured such by outswimming them, it has been con- 

 jectured that they must have taken their prey by means of stupefy- 

 ing them with electric shocks. "Whether we are to consider 

 attacks made by Sword-fishes upon passing vessels as due to 

 anger at being disturbed, or under the impression that they are 

 attacking their enemies the Whales, is questionable ; but it is a 

 well-ascertained fact that the planks of numerous ships, especially 

 in the Indian seas, have been pierced by the strong rostral appa- 

 ratus with which these fishes are provided either for offence or 

 defence. 



Pear is frequently shown ; as small birds mob those of prey, so 

 little fish will mob others that they dread. Some small species 

 were kept by Mr. "Whitmee in an aquarium with an Antennarius, 

 and were evidently in great dread of their carnivorous neighbour, 

 which they continually tried to torment, In attacking it they 

 always took care to strike at its posterior part, although this was 

 protected by a rock of coral *. 



Likewise fish, when hooked or netted, sometimes empty 

 their stomachs by an instinctive act of fear, or to facilitate 

 escape by lightening their loadf. Hooker remarks respecting 

 Gulls, Terns, Wild Geese, and Pelicans in the Ganges valley, 

 that these birds congregate by the sides of pools and beat the 

 water with violence so as to scare the fish, which then become 

 an easy prey, a fact which was, I believe, indicated by Pallas 

 during his residence on the banks of the Caspian Sea J. Along 

 the muddy shores of tropical countries and up the sides of large 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 133. 

 t Owen, ' Comp. Anat.' p. 419. 

 \ ' Himalayan Journal,' i. p. 80. 



