120 
FISHES. 
out of the water, and an incision made on it so as 
to expose a new surface to the smell of the fish. 
Dr. Monro describes the organ of hearing in 
these animals, and says it is placed on the sides of 
the skull, at some distance behind the eyes, and 
consists of a fluid and soft cretaceous substance 
contained in a bag : cod-fish and some others of 
the same shape have a hard cretaceous stone con- 
tained in each bag. Notwithstanding the Pro- 
fessors description, it does not appear that they 
possess the faculty of hearing, but are rather af- 
fected by the vibration communicated to the water 
in consequence of sound. Mr. Gouan, who kept 
some gold and silver fishes in a vase, informs us 
that, whatever noise he made, he could neither 
disturb nor terrify them : he hollaed as loud as he 
could, putting a piece of paper between his mouth 
and the water, to prevent the vibrations from af- 
fecting the surface, and the fishes still seemed in- 
sensible ; but when the paper was removed, and the 
sound had its full play upon the water, the fishes 
seemed instantly to feel the change, and shrunk to 
the bottom. 
The sense of seeing is possessed by fishes in 
greater perfection than any other : we cannot have 
a stronger instance of their accurate vision than in 
the rostrated chaetodon. This little fish actually 
shoots its prey. When it spies a fly sitting on the 
plants that grow in shallow water, it swims to 
within five or six feet of the place, and then with 
