280 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.  [Vor. XXXIV. 
ferent forms, so far as I have observed, are of quite a super- 
ficial nature. The instinct evidently has its root in the general 
instinct of preying, which is doubtless coeval with animal 
organization " (p. 307). 
In the adults of some species of fish it is very evident, in the 
matter of seizing their prey, that the elements of both Zesz/a- 
tion and fear are entirely absent, as witness the bold rush of 
the pike to capture a minnow, or the manner in which a trout 
or a salmon instantly takes the artificial fly. Hundreds of sim- 
ilar cases could easily be cited. 
This autumn the writer has been making photographs of liv- 
ing rare fishes at the building of the U. S. Fish Commission at 
Washington, D. C., and among them were some beautiful spec- 
imens of the young of the Snowy Grouper (Epinephelus nivea- 
tus) (see figure 1) and the Big-eye (Pseudopriacanthus altus). 
Both of these species exhibit a most remarkable behavior under 
certain conditions. The Snowy Grouper, for instance, when over- 
teased in any way, or sometimes without even that provocation, 
or when its food is presented to it, whether the act be voluntary 
or involuntary, passes through a peculiar fit or spasm, simulating 
all the symptoms of a dying fish. Not only this, but the speci- 
men so behaving changes in color from the normal brownish- 
black to a pale leaden hue, and as the spasmodic stage of the 
attack subsides, the fish comes to lie perfectly motionless upon 
its side, or else floats on the bottom, belly upwards. It will 
remain in this condition for nearly half an hour, when signs of 
animation again make their appearance, and the individual grad- 
ually assumes its former normal condition and color. The Big- 
eye is another species exhibiting somewhat similar attacks under 
nearly like conditions, but this species, I am told, sometimes 
dies in one of its more violent spasms. It is a well-known fact 
that some species of large fishes that prey upon smaller species 
will not devour them unless captured when making an exciting 
attempt to escape and in full vigor of health. They will not 
touch a dead specimen, or even one in the act of dying. I have 
noticed this especially in the case of pickerel. Now this pecul- 
iar fit that seizes the young of the Snowy Grouper may be due 
to the result of an acute reaction caused by fear; but, on the 
