THE SENSE OF HEARING IN FISHES. 



G. H. PARKER. 



The sense of 1c is unusual in several respects. Unlike 

 the other senses, it is restricted to comparatively few groups of 

 animals; for, though many experiments have been tried, there 



ing is possessed by coral animals, jellyfishes, worms, starfishes, 

 crabs, oysters, snails, and their allies. It is true that the older 

 naturalists described for many of these animals organs that they 



ing, but the experimental work of the last fifteen years has 

 shown that these organs are without doubt means of controlling 

 the equilibrium of the animals, and not organs of hearing. The 

 only animals in which a sense of hearing may be said without 

 reservation to be present arc the higher arthropods, particularly 

 the insects, and the four higher classes of vertebrates, the 

 amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Excepting the arthro- 

 pods and the vertebrates, it seems probable that the other ani- 

 mals cannot hear, that while they may be influenced by contact 

 with the world about them, by its light, its odors, etc.. they are 



