64 
con. 
Their food is sought for on the ground, as is the case 
generally with fishes that are furnished with a barb below the 
chin; which organ is not a mere appendage, but by dissection 
is known to be supplied with a special nerve of considerable 
size, by which it is rendered so sensitive that on some occasions 
it appears to serve as a substitute for the absence of another 
chief organ of perception. I possess the note of a Cod of 
full growth which had swallowed a bait to be taken with a 
line, and which bore the appearance of being well fed, but 
which was altogether without eyes; and from the structure of 
the skin which covered the sockets there seemed no reason 
to suppose that it had ever enjoyed the benefit of possessing 
these organs. This appendage must therefore have well 
performed the office of a substitute, in conformity with the 
observations of Sir Charles Bell, in his Bridgewater Treatise 
on the Hand, (p. 48,^ where he says, that by an anatomical 
investigation and experiment, he had discovered that the sensi- 
bility of all the head, and of its various appendages, is derived 
from one nerve only of the ten which are enumerated as 
arising from the brain, and are distributed within and around 
the head; and pursuing the subject by the aid of comparative 
anatomy, he found that a nerve corresponding to this, which 
is the fifth nerve in man, served a similar purpose in all the 
lower animals. In creatures which are covered with feathers 
or scales, or protected by shell, this nerve becomes almost 
the sole organ of sensibility. It is the development of this 
nerve that gives sensibility to the cirri which hang about the 
mouths of fishes. We may add that this fifth pair of nerves 
is represented in Monro’s twenty-first plate of the Anatomy 
and Physiology of Fishes. The nerves of smelling also are 
well marked in these fishes, and derive their origin on each 
side from *a round ganglion which is connected with the brain 
by a lengthened cord. The last-named writer also represents 
the organ of hearing as being distinctly recognised; so that the 
exercise of every sense is well provided for. We shall find 
more to remark on this subject when we speak of the genus 
Motella, an aberrant form of the Gadoid family. 
The Cod, thus supplied with the organs of sensation, is one 
of the most voracious of fishes, and on most occasions appears 
to feed indiscriminately. Yet there is proof that it exercises 
decided preference for particular objects; so that it is not only 
