Gossip about Fish. 103 



" the fish caught in their nets became so frozen that in a short 

 time they formed a solid mass of ice ; and by a blow or two of 

 the hatchet they were easily split open, so that their entrails 

 might be removed in one lnmp. But if in this frozen state 

 they were thawed before the fire they recovered their anima- 

 tion. This was particularly the case with the carp, and he 

 has seen a carp so completely restored after being frozen for 

 thirty-six hours as to leap about with much vigour.'''' Mr. 

 Couch alludes to experiments of John Hunter, which had an 

 opposite result, as the carp which he subjected to a freezing 

 mixture was killed ; and he observes, " if we are to suppose that 

 the fish frozen by Sir J. Franklin were of the same time species 

 as those of Hunter, the only explanation of the difference of 

 result will be that the suddenness of the operation in the north 

 prevented that exhaustion of vitality which was fatal in the 

 other.'" We are also told that carp can be kept alive for weeks 

 in a cool cellar, if the body is kept moist and appropriate 

 food supplied. 



The minnows seem to possess their full share of piscine 

 mother wit and natural politeness. When they have discovered 

 some dead animal substance, " they arrange themselves in the 

 form of a ring, which has been compared to that formed by the 

 petals of a flower, with their heads lower than the level of their 

 bodies, and in this situation no one jostles another. But how- 

 ever peaceable among themselves, the circle must not be 

 broken into by a stranger, for on the approach of such, the 

 most powerful of the company will quit his station to drive him 

 away, while his place is kept vacant by his companions until his 

 return to the feast/'' 



Fishes with filaments hanging from their heads have usually 

 keen sensations of touch, and some species seem equally re- 

 markable for fine scent, if, indeed, the fish sense residing in 

 the nostrils be not a sort of taste. Thus Mr. Couch informs us 

 that the loach has been seen to follow his food by scent, so as 

 to have discovered it ' ' when intentionally concealed from the 

 mere influence of sight and feeling.'" With reference to fish 

 hearing, Mr. Couch states that a shoal of pilchards have been 

 known to sink and disappoint the fishermen at the firing of a 

 heavy gun twenty miles off. 



Many curious instances will be found in Mr. Couch's fourth 

 volume of the skill evinced by the eel in surmounting obstacles 

 in his migrations. It appears that he gets up rocks, climbs 

 gate-posts in canals, and, as is generally known, occasionally 

 takes a walk in the fields. ' c It is said to have been known to 

 devour newly-sown green peas in a garden, and I have been 

 credibly assured that one was found in a field of turnips at the 

 distance of a quarter of a mile from a river.'''' An eel keeps one 



