MR. F. SUTTON ON THE PROTECTIVE INSTINCT IN FISHES. 441 
almost instant change in the pattern of the colours and their 
intensity in the male occurred and remained for some weeks. 
But my chief object in introducing this question of the protective 
instinct in fishes is with regard to inherited instinct. To put a case 
plainly, suppose that any given fresh-water fish like the Salmon, 
Trout, Roach, Bream, or Perch has been caught by a hook furnished 
with a tempting bait, but lias escaped ; or suppose from being too 
small, or in bad condition, ho has been thrown back again ; or say, 
a fisherman like myself who cares nothing for the lish and only 
avails himself of them as a means of sport, turns all the fish into 
the water again, and probably many of these lishes have been caught 
repeatedly and turned back. Is that any lesson to them as to 
future caution in searching for food? I had at one time a good 
deal of talk with the late Frank Buckland on this subject, and his 
opinion was that although the means by which such experience in 
lishes could be communicated to offspring must be very remote, 
owing to the heterogeneous method of reproduction, yet he believed 
most firmly that in the case of Salmon or Trout accustomed to live 
and breed in a certain river, and where they were constantly fished 
for with the fly, there was an increasing display of caution in taking 
such baits among tbe succeeding generations of fish, that in fact 
there had to be a corresponding degree of adaptation on the part 
of the fisherman to circumvent this caution by using finer tackle, 
and by imitating natural baits more closely than was formerly the 
custom. We know, of course, that the Salmon and Trout which 
periodically migrate to the sea generally find their way back to the 
river from which they started. 
Buckland assured me that although occasionally mistakes were 
made, such for instance as sometimes occurs in our own rivers, 
when a Trout coming from the sea has been caught at Reedham or 
Cantley, that such occurrences were very rare, and that each fish kept 
steadily to its own breeding river. My experience, however, has to 
do with fishes of a lower grade than Salmon or Trout, unfortunately 
for me, for Norfolk does not furnish much opportunity for this 
higher class of angling. Pike, Perch, Bream, and Roach are 
practically the only fish to be met with in our Norfolk rivers, and 
the sportsman must content himself with these bottom fish in this 
locality. Pike and Perch, as we all no doubt know, are bold fish, 
and will often rush at a bright glittering bait, whether it is natural 
