INSTINCTS AND EMOTIONS IN FISH. 55 



he has very often seen the Jaculator-fish shoot a great many- 

 drops one after another without leaving its place and fixed 

 situation*. 



The Common Eel, it is affirmed, voluntarily leaves the water at 

 certain periods and wanders about meadows and moist grounds in 

 quest of particular food, as snails &c. ; it is also said to be fond of 

 new-sown peas, which it has been observed to root out of the 

 ground and devour during the night. If we may credit Albertus 

 Magnus, it has been known during very severe frosts to take 

 refuge in adjoining hay-ricks f. 



Captain Arn, in a voyage to Hemel in the Baltic, gives the 

 following interesting narrative : — " One morning during a calm, 

 when near the Hebrides, all hands were called up at 2 a.m. to 

 witness a battle between several of the fish called Threshers or 

 Pox-Sharks (Alopecias vulpes) and some Sword-fish on one side, 

 and an enormous "Whale on the other. It was in the middle of 

 the summer ; and the weather being clear and the fish close to the 

 vessel, we had a fine opportunity of witnessing the contest. As 

 soon as the Whale's back appeared above the water, the Threshers 

 springing several yards into the air, descended with great violence 

 upon the object of their rancour, and inflicted upon him the most 

 Bevere slaps with their long tails, the sounds of which resembled 

 the reports of muskets fired at a distance. The Sword-fish in 

 their turn attacked the distressed Whale, stabbing from below : 

 and thus beset on all sides and wounded, when the poor creature 

 appeared, the water around him was dyed with blood. In this 

 manner they continued tormenting and wounding him for many 

 hours, until we lost sight of him ; and I have no doubt they in the 

 end completed his destruction." 



The master of a fishing-boat J has recently observed that the 

 Thresher-Shark serves out the Whales, the sea sometimes being 

 all blood. One Whale, attacked by these fish, once took refuge 

 under his vessel, where it lay an hour and a half without moving 

 a fin. He also remarked having seen the Threshers jump out of 

 the water as high as the mast-head and down upon the Whale, 

 while the Sword-fish was wounding him from beneath, the two 

 sorts of fish evidently acting in concert. 



The Thresher or Fox-tailed Shark attacks its enemies or defends 



* " On the Jaculator-Fish by Schlosser," Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. 1764, 

 vol. Hv. 



t Shaw, Zool. iv. p. 17. J 'Land and Water,' 1879. 



