Chap. 90.] .FISH THAT HAVE THE FINEST SENSE OF SMELL. 547 
distinctly than others, although huried in the earth, so dense 
and sluggish an element as it is ; and what is even more, 
although every sound has a tendency upwards, they can hear 
the words that are spoken ; and, it is said, they can ev^n 
understand it if you talk about them, and will take to flight 
immediately. Among men, a person who has not enjoyed the 
sense of hearing in his infancy, is deprived of the powers of 
speech as well ; and there are none deaf from their birth who 
are not dumb also. Among the marine animals, it is not 
probable that oysters enjoy the sense of hearing, but it is said 
that immediately a noise is made the solen^^ will sink to the 
bottom ; it is for this reason, too, that silence is observed by 
persons while fishing at sea. 
CHAP. 89. (70.) — WHICH FISHES HAVE THE BEST HEAEING. 
Fishes have neither organs of hearing, nor yet the exterior 
orifice. And yet, it is quite certain that they do hear ; for it 
is a well-known fact, that in some fish-ponds they are in the 
habit of being assembled to be fed by the clapping of the 
hands. In the fish-ponds, too, that belong to the Emperor, the 
fish are in the habit of coming, each kind as it bears its name.^^ 
So too, it is said, the mullet, the wolf-fish, the salpa, and the 
chromis, have a very exquisite sense of hearing, and that it is 
for this reason that they frequent shallow water. 
CHAP. 90. WHICH FISHES HAVE THE FINEST SENSE OF SMELL. 
It is quite manifest that fishes liave the sense of smell also ; 
for they are not all to be taken with the same bait, and are seen 
to smell at it before they seize it. Some, too, that are con- 
cealed in the bottom of holes, are driven out by the fisherman, 
by the aid of the smell of salted fish ; with this he rubs the 
entrance of their retreat in the rock, immediately upon which 
they take to flight from the spot, just as though they had recog- 
nized the dead carcases of those of their kind. Then, again, 
they will rise to the surface at the smell of certain odours, 
such, for instance as roasted ssepia and polypus ; and hence it 
is that these baits are placed in the osier kipes used for taking 
fish. They immediately take to flight upon smelling the bilge 
Known by us as the razor-sheath. 
5^ Martial alludes to these fish-preseryes, and the fish coming upon 
hearing their name, B. iv. Ep. 30, and B. x. Ep. 30. 
