THE ORGAN AND SENSE OF TASTE IN FISHES. 
253 
a moment in front of them and then moved .slowly away they would not follow it. 
If, however, it touched a barblet and then moved rapidly away before the fish had 
time to seize it, then the fish would sometimes follow it a short distance. 
At this point, the relations of vision and smell to these reactions should receive 
some further consideration. These young- fishes, like their adults, spend much of 
their time buried under the debris of the bottom, with perhaps a barblet or a por- 
tion of the tail only projecting. Under these circumstances it is easy to apply the 
stimulus to various parts of the skin with the assurance that the contact is wholly 
invisible to the fish. Many such experiments show decisively that the reaction takes 
place in the same way whether the fish is able to see the stimulus applied or not. 
The visual factor being so conclusively ruled out, 1 have not thought it necessary to 
blind the fish for further control. 
This conclusion of course must be limited strictly to fish of the species and age 
under investigation. It by no means follows that they may not subsequently learn 
to use their eyes in finding food, as well as in escaping from their enemies. Indeed, 
during the later experiments of this series, after the fishes had been fed for several 
weeks almost daily with meat on the end of a wire, I saw some slight evidence that 
they took note of the bait by the sense of sight, but the observations were in no case 
conclusive. Whether the adult Ameiurus nebulosus ever uses the eyes in the capture 
of food 1 have no definite information, though from the habit of spending much of 
the time during the day completely buried in the mud and of feeding chiefly at night 
it is very improbable that they do so. With the channel cat-fish, Ictalurns , the case 
is certainly different. 
Mr. I. A. Field tells me that while fishing for bass in the Black River, Ohio, he 
has sometimes caught large specimens of Ictalurus with live minnows as bait. The 
current was swift and the minnows were kepi off the bottom of the river and in 
motion all the time. At the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, at Pittsburg, July 1, 1902, in the course of a brief report upon these 
experiments, I asked the question whether anyone ever caught a cat-fish on a spoon 
hook. Dr. L. L. Dyclie stated that he has occasionally caught the channel cat (Icta- 
lurus) on a spoon in a small lake, but only in bright sunlight. Dr. Eigenmann stated 
that Ictalurus has much better eyes than Ameiurus. They are not only larger, but 
the retinal pattern is more nearly like that of other fishes, while that of Ameiurus 
is decidedly degenerate. 
The part played by the sense of smell is much more difficult to determine. As 
intimated above. I have evidence that the gustatory organs of the skin can function 
only in contact with the sapid substance. The most highly flavored food can be held 
within a millimeter or two of the barblet or lips without calling forth the character- 
istic instantaneous reflex. I will narrate one experience which was many times 
repeated in a variety of modifications. Three fishes were lying quietly under a small 
water-soaked leaf. A bit of rather stale beefsteak, with a strong odor, was held on 
the tip of a tine wire over the edge of the leaf under which they were lying and sepa- 
rated by a centimeter or two from the nostrils of the fishes. The leaf was consider- 
ably corroded by decay, and doubtless the odor could freely permeate it, though it 
was nearly or quite opaque. After some ten seconds the fishes began to move rest- 
lessly about in circles under the leaf, which was soon swept away by their movements. 
