ANIMAL SENSE PERCEPTIONS. 173 



marked ; for the brute creation recognize each other more from 

 the smell than from the sight; and in matters of identity and 

 diversity appeal much more to their noses than to their eyes. 

 After sheep have been washed there is the same confusion, from 

 the reason given above."* It is certain that fishes possess the 

 faculty of perceiving odours, and that various scents attract or 

 repel them. A mangled carcase or fresh blood attracts Sharks, 

 as well as the voracious Serrasal monoids of the South American 

 rivers.f However, according to Bateson, " the range of taste 

 and smells which fishes are capable of perceiving seems to be 

 very small. Conger are equally willing to eat a piece of Squid 

 or Pilchard, if it is covered or smeared with spirit, trimethy- 

 lamine, turpentine, iodoform, camphor spirit, cheese of various 

 sorts, anchovy extract, or Balanoglossus, as if it had been un- 

 polluted. On the other hand, they will refuse cooked or tainted 

 food, and food which has been soaked for a few moments in 

 dilute acids. The same remarks apply generally to other 

 fishes."| 



Some Millipedes possess odoriferous glands emitting a dis- 

 agreeable odour, due to the secretion of a fluid containing 

 prussic acid. Mr. Pocock considers this " no doubt serves as 

 a protection against birds, ants, &c, to these otherwise defence- 

 less creatures." But, he adds — " in a Hornbill's nest in the 

 British Museum, the plaster used to block the entrance is largely 

 composed of crushed fragments of a large Spirostreptus." § The 

 same author states that a Solpuga, " which frequents houses in 

 Denver, Colorado, is said to be of service to mankind on account 

 of its partiality for bed-bugs, a fact of some interest, as showing 

 that the strong stench of cyanide of potassium emitted by these 

 parasites is no protection against the attacks of the Solpuga."\\ 



The theory as to the warning colours of the Skunk presents 

 some difficulties. H It was first proposed by that philosophical 



* ' Nat. Hist. Selborne,' Harting's edit. p. 317. 

 f Cf. Giinther, ' Introd. Study of Fishes,' p. 110. 



I ' Journ. Marine Biol. Assoc' (n.s.), vol. i. p. 247. 

 § ' Eoy. Nat. Hist.' vol. vi. p. 212. 



II ' Nature,' vol. lvii. p. 619. 



H The Skunk has its enemies, and is not so unmolested as has been stated. 

 In Patagonia the Skunk is one of the most abundant animals. The traveller 

 D'Qrbigny wrote that in that country the Skunk formed the chief food of the 



