SENSES OF FISHES. 47 



ave destitute of cirri : the lips, indeed, of some few 

 genera are thick and fleshy ; but analogy would lead us 

 to believe that this peculiarity had a greater reference 

 to taste than touch. It seems, however, that nature 

 compensates her partial denial of this sense by increas- 

 ing that of sight. The eyes of nearly all the spiny- 

 rayed fishes, very few of which are provided with cirri, 

 are particularly large ; and this circumstance alone would 

 lead to the conclusion that the faculty of sight is highly 

 developed in such groups. It may be observed, on the 

 other hand, that nearly all the soft-rayed genera, that 

 are provided with cirri, have the eye comparatively 

 very small: and such is also the case in most of 

 the ground-fish ; witness the eels, the flat fish, the 

 sharks, skates, and lophians.* The mackerel, the her- 

 ring, the Spari, and the dolphins, which are pelagic, or 

 roaming for the most part in the wide sea, have all 

 large and brilliant eyes; while a few others, which there 

 is reason to believe live almost entirely in the profound 

 depths of the ocean, have eyes even still larger than the 

 last. This brings us to the sense of smelling, which 

 there is equal reason to believe is very great; for the 

 nostrils generally have a double opening on each side, 

 although both lead to the same canal; while the internal 

 nerves connected with the nostrils are very large, and 

 occupy a considerable space. 



(49.) Fish are exposed, on all sides, to the approach 

 of enemies, from whom there is rarely that facility of 

 shelter afforded in the open sea which is enjoyed 

 by land animals. A highly developed state, there- 

 fore, of the organs of sight and smell appears abso- 

 lutely necessary to them, not only for their own safety, 

 but also to discover the food, whether animal or ve- 

 getable, upon which they subsist ; with these qualities 

 the faculty of touch is hardly required, and we conse- 

 quently find it either very partially or, to appearance, 

 not at all given. Inductive reasoning, again, teaches us 



* We propose this designation for the Lophiadcs and the Chironectida, 

 forming the Linnasan genus Lophius. 



