No. 465.) STUDIES OF MYXINOIDS. 653 
I was hot able to gather any data as to the sense of taste. So 
far as may be judged from observable reactions, the senses of 
touch and smell are the most important in the life of the hag- 
fish. Watching its life for four months and examining its 
brain, both confirm this. Several times, to see what would hap- 
pen, I took apart the rockery, transferring it to the other side of 
the tank. The hagfish, suddenly deprived of their place, were 
restless. First they moved their heads and the fore part of 
their bodies, groping around, and then began to swim. They 
swam in a slow, searching manner, sometimes feeling their way 
along the side of the tank, and always with their heads moving 
slowly from side to side, tentacles on the alert. Most of them, 
when they touched the rocks with a tentacle tip, would recognize 
them instantly, and go right in. Many on approaching within 
an inch or an inch and a half of them, would plunge straight for 
them, probably having smelt them. But there were others that, 
while searching, would glide directly over the rocks, perhaps even 
touching them with their bodies or the sides of their heads, or 
even with their tentacles, yet would give no evidence that they 
noted their presence ; instead, they would continue their search 
farther afield, and eventually get back to them again. 
On the other hand, they sometimes have a wonderful surety 
of motion. One morning I found one hagfish that had made a 
loop of its body, and was lying motionless, while three others 
were swimming through the loop, one after the other. They 
would dash through, describe a large circle from eighteen inches 
to two feet in diameter, come back to the starting point, and 
plunge through again. The hole in the loop was less than two 
inches across, and in the few minutes that I watched them, not 
one of the three hesitated, or failed to pass quickly and surely 
through the loop. 
But they do not always carry sense of direction so well. If 4 
took one away from the rocks, and dropped it immediately NR 
or eight inches off,it generally went straight back. But if I 
held it a minute or so, or dropped it farther away, it would have 
to search for its resting place. Sometimes it would search and 
find it; sometimes, not finding it immediately, it would — 
slowly around and settle down. 
