CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL LAIU )R A l ( )R\ OF 

 THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOL()(iV AT HARVARD 

 COLLEGE. E. L. MARK, Director.— No. 151. 



THE SENSE OF HEARING IN THE GOLDFISH 

 CARASSIUS AURATUS L. 



HENRY B. BIGK LOW. 



I. Introduction. 



To THE older investigators, such as Hunter (:82) Miiller 

 ('48), and Owen ('66), the presence of internal ears in fishes was 

 sufficient evidence that these animals had a sense of hearni^;. 

 Kreidl ('95), however, was the first to seek experimental evidence 

 on this point. He tested normal goldfishes, and others from 

 which he had removed the semicircular canals with the attached 

 portions of the ears. Since both classes of fishes reacted sim- 

 ilarly to sounds, he concluded that the skin, not the ear, is 

 stimulated by sound, and that, therefore, it can be said that 

 goldfishes do not hear. This conclusion has since gained consid- 

 erable recognition, and has been accepted by Mulertt (:02) in 

 his recent book The Goldfish. Kreidl ('96) alst) made obser- 

 vations on the trout in the fish basins of the Benedictine 

 Monastery at Krems, Austria, and gathered ample evidence to 

 prove that the belief that the fish assembled for footl at the imp- 

 ing of a bell to be unfounded. These observations contirnK-d imi 

 in the opinion that fishes do not hear, a conclusion furtlicr sup- 

 ported by the subsequent observations of Lee ( 9'"^) '^'^ 

 species, particularly the dogfish. 



In spite of this important evidence, Lang J^*^,"^!;,^ 

 popular discussion of the question " Do acquatic aninia > luii ^.^^ 

 with the statement that fishes and other like forms shou ( k 

 tested more extensively before a decisive answei can ^ c.^ ^^^^ 

 Tullberg (:o3), whose experiments led him to conclude 



