LETTER X. On the Nature and Phenomena of the mental Principle which appears in the Fish Order of animated Beings. THE habits of fishes are too little known for us to form sufficient ideas of the extent and degree of the mental faculty which accompanies their living principle. The similarity of their brain to that of birds was remarked by one of our distinguished anatomists of that grand function of our present mode of existence.* Their organs of sense resemble ours in the principle of their construction, with particular modifications to suit them to the watery medium in which they live.t That they possess and exercise volition many show. BIVALVES, including oysters, cockles, muscles, scallops, &c.; the UNIVALVES, as periwinkles, limpets, welks, and snails; and the MULTIVALVES. Bosc has classified these under several subdivisions, in his Hist. Nat. des Coquilles, in the Dict. Naturelle. In his system, the arrangement is more methodical, and the genera more definite, than in the Linnæan system. The Supplement of the Ed. Encycl. art. Conchology, details the classification of Bosc. Conchology comprises the shells which protect the molluscous animals.-Ib. The CRUSTACEOUS have a fibrous texture, articulated members, complicated organs of mastication, and at stated periods renew their coverings. Their shells contain phosphate of lime.-Suppl. Ed. Ency. p. 284. Dr. Th. Willis. As he had traced many resemblances between the brain of man and that of quadrupeds, so he remarks of birds and fishes, "Both these species of animals, coetaneous, and as it were twins at their creation, have their affinity in nothing more strongly than in the fabrication of the brain." He proceeds to detail the similarities.-Cereb. Anat. 67-76. The parts wanting in the one are absent in the other. The additional peculiarities are exhibited by both. † Borelli examined the optic nerves of the swordfish, thunny, and others; and disputed with Eustachius and others on their structure : contending that they were cross-barred and complicated like cloth, and not longitudinal fibres.-Lett. in Malph. Op. vol. ii. p. 1-7....The optic nerves intercussate in them, as in animals. The medulla oblongate is exactly analogous to that of birds; fitting the one to swim in the sea, and the other for that flight in the air which may be called an aerial natation.-Willis, 75. Their cerebellum resembles that of the more perfect animals.-76. Casserius Placentinus ascribed olfactory nerves to them.-Ib. The two swordfishes who plunged their beaks into the ships they pursued, apparently supposing them to be whales, or some analogous substance, exhibited a vigorous determination of their will to their own perdition.* Yet, though mistaken in the object, the blow was not ill judged, nor the force with which it was given; for this would have buried their snout so far in a whale as to have enabled them to have extracted the nutritive matter they sought by the action, before the whale could have loosened its wounded body from their attack. To mistake the keel of a vessel for the animal, was not a greater error than a seaman's mistaking a whale for an island, or a fog-bank for a real shore, which has been repeatedly done.t The fish which climbs trees displays an equal exertion of peculiar will, though its exact intention is not known, beyond the general idea that it is seeking for food, or something agreeable to its perception. The salmon exhibits a remarkable instance of determined effort to effect a rational purpose, in the extraordinary leaps which it makes to surmount cataracts or other obstacles which impede its progress as it ascends a river. This requires, not only will, but correct perception and judgment, as its muscular exertion must be regulated by the extent and nature of the hinderance which it meets with, and by a perception of the height to which its spring must reach. Other fish can make such * See before, note [*] p. 216. The whale endeavours to strike its assailant with its tail; of which one blow would destroy him. The swordfish, by great agility, avoids the descending ruin, and, bounding in the air, again falls upon the whale. † Milton has noticed one of these illusions "Him haply slumb'ring on the Norway foam Moors by his side."--Par. Lost. B. 1. The perca scandens, which inhabits rivulets in Tranquebar; about a palm long. By the means of the spines of its gill-covers, and the spinous rays of its other fins, it crawls up trees.-Linn. Trans. vol. iii. p. 62....Lieut. Dalderff saw it ascending a palm growing near a pool of water, and had got up five feet when observed. It was very tenacious of life, for it moved about on dry land many hours after it was taken.Ib.....Dr. Shaw calls it the climbing sparus.-G. Zool. vol. iv. p. 475. Mr. Pennant watched them at Port Aberglaslyn, where they had to pass a perpendicular fall. They sprang up quite straight, and with a tremulous motion. They do not always succeed in their first leap, and in that case repeat it, if they can, till they have cleared the difficulty elevating starts when they choose.* The several species of flying-fish display, in like manner, voluntary exertions on emergencies of danger, in order to escape it, and the idea how they can do so: a spontaneous motion for a reasonable purpose, at the proper moment, and continued as long as the necessity lasts, or the ability to perform it remains.t The periodical migrations of so many tribes, for the purpose of fecundating and depositing their eggs, display a mental instinct in rational, persevering, and efficacious operation. The same combination of action and judgment appears in the fish that crawls on land in search of water; and in the night journeys of eels, for obtaining food. But The leap is sometimes 7 or 8 feet.-Brit. Zool. vol. ix. p. 284....." On the river Liffey, in Ireland, there is a cataract about 19 feet high, up which these fish leap. They frequently fall back many times before they surmount it."-Bing. An. Biog. vol. iii, p. 270. †The trout leaps several feet out of the water.-T. Linn. 847. And the trichiurus of South America often leaps into boats as they pass by. --Ib. 712. *The scorpœna volitans, in the fresh waters of Amboyna and Japan, less than the river perch, thus raises and suspends itself for a time, when pursued.-T. Linn. 757.....So the trigla volitans of the Mediterranean and Asiatic seas flies out of the water in every direction when endangered.-Ib. 834.....The exocœtus volitans is the most celebrated for this exertion. It is done in all by the pectoral fins; but the flight can be supported only while they are wet. Captain Tobin watched them about Otaheite. They use their tail to supply their pectoral wings with the needed moisture. He frequently saw the dolphins and bonitos in pursuit of them; but none could go beyond 100 yards without dipping in water for a fresh supply of wet. Its length is from 12 to 15 inches. -Penn. Br. Zool. vol. iii. p. 333. Wood, Zool. vol. ii. p. 187.....They are sometimes in danger from sea-birds while in the air; but this coincidence of their presence cannot very often occur. The casual incident has been dolorously magnified into an habitual circumstance, and the fish supposed therefore to lead a miserable life. It is most probable that, having the power of the aerial excursion, it often uses it for its own amusement. The callichthis siluris "inhabits small running streams of Europe, and when these are dried up, crawls across meadows in search of water." When confined, "it is said to perforate the sides of reservoirs for the purpose of making its escape."--T. Linn. p. 839. During the night they wander along the meadows in search of snails and worms.....Dr. Plot mentions this fact in his History of Staffordshire. That they can travel out of water is certain.... M. Arderon saw them sliding up the dry flood-gates of the waterworks at Norwich, six feet above the surface of the water, with the greatest facility, to get into the water above the gates.-Phil. Tr. vol. xliv. p. 395....Dr. Anderson, as he walked by the Dee, observed a close connected stream of young eels, two inches long, moving along the edge of the river in shoal water. They when they move with the semblance of following a conductor, in a marshalled form, we cannot avoid inferring in them the same degree of reasoned intention and judgment which we ascribe to animals who exhibit such habits.* A distinct action of judging mind appears in the fish that directs the projectile blow on the insects it perceives, and desires to make its food; for this requires a careful proportioning of the force to the distance, and to the amount of the water that is thrown; in this operation an accurate perception and instantaneous judgment are necessary in order to produce so continually a successful result.† The fishes that hide themselves in the mud, to be in safety from their assailants, or to avoid danger, or to procure com moved on, night and day, without interruption, for several weeks. Their progress was about a mile an hour. That place was six miles from the sea. The shoal was not less than from 12 to 20 feet in breadth, and very long. "Whence they came, or whither they went, I know not. I am told the same phenomenon takes place every year at the same season."— And. Bee. Wood, Zool. vol. ii. p. 135..... Eels are in some places so numerous, that in the Garonne 60,000 are said to have been taken in one day by a single net..... Dr. Bloet mentions that many wagon loads of them are conveyed from the mouths of the Baltic into Saxony.--Ib. p. 137.... The following passage explains what Dr. Anderson saw: "Eels produce their young about the end of summer. They are said to descend into the sea for this purpose, and to take the opportunity of the most obscure nights, and when the rivers are flooded by accidental rains, to seek the ocean. The young fry begin to return into the fresh water about the end of January; and continue their passage for the three following months, during which time they are taken in the river Arno by millions; but of so small a size that a vast number of them goes to a pound."--Gold. Nat. Hist. vol. iii. p. 257. *The lavaretus salmo "inhabits Northern Europe; and in spawning time approaches the mouths of rivers in immense shoals, swimming near the surface, in an acute-angled column, with a leader at their head."-T. Linn. p. 852. Phil. Trans. vol. Ixiii. v. 149.... The thunny migrates in a regular parallelogram. †The chatodon rostratus, about six or eight inches long, frequents the seashores in the East Indies. When it observes a fly sitting on the plants that grow in shallow water, it swims to the distance of five or six feet, and then, with surprising dexterity, ejects out of its tubular mouth a single drop of water, which never fails striking the fly into the sea, where it soon becomes its prey. Hommel, a Dutch governor, had some of these fish put into a tub of water, and afterward pinned a fly on a stick within their reach. He daily saw these fish shoot at the fly, and with such dexterity that they never failed to hit their mark.-Phil. Trans. vol. liv. p. 89..... Pallas describes the siæna jaculatrix as securing flies by a similar contrivance.-Ib. vol. lvi. p. 186. ...The sparus insidiator, in the Indian seas, ten inches long, catches aquatic insects, like the chaetodon, by its snout, which it can lengthen out into a tube.-T. Linn. p. 785. fort, evince what resembles a perception and use of the fittest means to effectuate their wishes.* The salmon, when storms come on, sinks to the bottom; as if with a right judgment to avoid what would injure it:† while those to whom the agitation will be rather pleasurable than pernicious, become sensible of the impending change, and rise to the surface of its lake or stream as it approaches.‡ The gymnotus and others benumb, by an electrical discharge, the intermeddler that disturbs it, or the fish that it desires to arrest and swallow for its nutrition.§ All these are actions for reasonable purposes, very similar to what all right judgment would do under such circumstances. The whale displays not merely maternal regard, but even affection, for its mate, and has shown the deepest sorrow when deprived of him. That they are attracted by "The schloperi gobius, in the lakes of Amboyna, when pursued thus, hides itself.-T. L. p. 748.....The flat-fish tribe, pleuronectes, bury themselves in the sand, except their heads, to escape the notice or attack of those who seek them for prey.-Ib. p. 761.....The tobianus, or sand lance, on the recess of the tides, being exposed by the retreat of the water, penetrates a foot deep in the sand.--Ib. p. 714.....The fossilis cobitis, a resident of the muddy streams, withdraws into the mud in winter, as if to avoid the severity of the cold.-p. 837 †T. Linn. p. 846. As the glanis silurus, which inhabits the deep fresh waters of Europe and the East.-T. L. p. 840....So the fossilis cobitis, which is very restless before a storm, disturbing the water, gets as near as possible to the surface. p. 387. Bloch, Ichth. v. p. 38. Shaw, Gen. Zool. iv. p. 41. The gymnotus abounds in the rivers of Surinam. The shock takes place if only one hand hold the fish and the other is put into the water over its body. Its effects exactly resemble those of atmospherical electricity, communicated by the same conductors, and intercepted by non-conductors.-Dr. Garden. Phil. Trans.....The silurus electricus, in the African rivers, communicates a similar shock when touched, but less violently.-T. L. p. 840..... So the tetrodon electricus, described by Paterson in the Phil. Trans. It inhabits the holes of the coral rocks in St. John's Island. The raja torpedo, described in the same work by Walsh, has also this electrifying power. The incident mentioned by Anderson is, that as two whales were sailing together, a male and a female, one was harpooned by the whalefishers. It made a long and formidable resistance. Its companion attended and assisted it, and when the wounded one expired, stretched itself with great bellowing sounds upon the dead fish, and voluntarily shared its fate.-Golds. Nat. Hist. vol. iii. p. 443.....A female grampus and her young one were ashore when attacked. The mother got off, but finding her young one detained, came back again to release it or to share its fate. Waller's poem of the Summer Islands notices this circum stance. |