FISH— GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 
251 
In 6 Nature 5 (voL xi., p. 48) Mr. Mitchell gives the 
following instance of intelligence on the part of a small 
perch. Having one day disturbed its nest full of young 
fry, Mr. Mitchell next day went to look for the nes f ; 
6 but we searched in vain for the fish and her young. At 
length, a few yards further up stream, we discovered the 
parent guarding her fry with jealous care in a cavity 
scooped out of the coarse sand. . . . This is the first and 
only instance that has come under my notice of a fish 
watching over her young, and conveying them, when 
threatened with danger, to some other place. 5 
In 6 Nature 5 (December 19, 1878) there is also pub- 
lished a communication which was made by Mr. J. Faraday 
to the Manchester Anglers 5 Association, concerning a skate 
which he observed in the aquarium of that town : — 
A m or s el of food thrown into the tank fell directly in an 
angle formed by the glass front and the bottom. The skate, a 
large example, made several vain attempts to seize the food, 
owing to ite mouth being on the underside of its head and the 
food being close to the glass. He lay quite still for a while as 
though thinking, then suddenly raised himself into a slanting 
posture, the head inclined upwards, and the under surface of 
the body towards the food, when he waved his broad expanse of 
fins, thus creating an upward current or wave in the water, 
which lifted the food from its position and carried it straight to 
his mouth. 
It will be observed, however, that this observation is 
practically worthless, from the observer having neglected 
to repeat the conditions in order to show that the move- 
ments of the fish were not, in their adaptation to these 
circumstances, purely accidental. Therefore I should not 
have alluded to this observation, had I not found that it 
has been quoted by several writers as a remarkable display 
of intelligence on the part of the fish. 
I must not take leave of this class without making 
some allusion to the alleged habits of the so-called 6 pilot- 
fish, 5 and also to those of 6 thresher 5 and 6 sword-fish. 5 I 
class these widely different habits together because they 
are alike in being dubious ; different observers give differ- 
ent accounts, and therefore^ until more information is 
