18 THE ZOOLOGIST. © 
that is, passing one’s hand slowly under them and forward, 
tickling gently, until a good grip can be obtained round the 
shoulder. When fish are as tame as this they have lost, at any 
rate temporarily, their instinctive fear of many things, and 
acquired new habits. The main factor in bringing about this 
change is their inordinate love of food, for fishes will gorge 
themselves to a state of helplessness if opportunity occurs. It 
is sometimes said that performing seals, horses, &c., are trained 
by absolute hunger and thirst. I doubt that, and do not think 
that such extremes are necessary when one considers how much 
a well-fed dog can be taught to do for the sake of tit-bits. In 
many of these cases with the higher vertebrates there is surely 
some telepathic or similar influence at work between the trainer 
and the animals. 
The case of such fish as Wrasses (Labrus) is rather different; 
they do not live in shoals, but hunt singly over the larger sea- 
weeds* for molluscs, or attack even fairly large crabs which 
come about their own special area of rocks. The food of the 
Ballan Wrasse (LL. bergylta) consists chiefly of Littorina, Lacuna, 
Gammarus, Idotea, and larger crustaceans, such as Hyas and 
Carcinus. Such fish, after a few days in a tank, naturally dash 
at the mussel, &c., falling through the water just as they will at 
fishes + or other intruders. They like their food alive, or at any 
rate moving, and will often circle round a piece of mussel and 
not touch it until a stray current causes it to move slightly. 
Flat-fish at first are afraid of food falling through the water, and 
will dart away from it and bury themselves in the sand, allowing 
the food to lie until night. However, after a few months in 
captivity they, too, will dart up at food thrown into the water, 
and in time rise and become excited when one is working by the 
mussel supply tank. These fish—Saithe, Lythe, Wrasses, Flat- 
fish, &e.—can then detect one’s actions outside the tanks at a 
distance of twenty-five feet, which inclines one to think that 
they are not so short-sighted as is generally supposed.t 
Newly captured fish, if put into a tank with tame ones, 
become tame much sooner than a batch of wild fish kept by 
themselves. Fish can show considerable emotion by their 
* ‘Journal of the Marine Biological Association,’ vol. i. p. 242. 
+ ‘ Zoologist,’ 1999, p. 202. 
* © Journal of the Marine Biological Association,’ vol. 1. p. 242. 
