The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-22

difficult to distinguish this act from one
performed by man by the aid of reason"
ANY. one who has watched hermit
craos In marine aquarium must have
noticed how fastidious the "holy friar''
Is ABOUT his cell nay even when he finds
one that suits his taste better he will
leave his abode, attach himself to the
living lnhaoitant of the cell, If il has
one, and wait for the occupants death
Among these hermit crabs there are sew
eral cases in which a friendship exists
between the crab and an anemone
(Adamsial. Instances have been known
IN which when the anemone has been re-
moved from the shell inhabited by the
hermit the crab has taken il in its claws
ana held it In place until the companion
was firmly fixed again.
Mr. Romanes has collected several
| records in which even the larvae of in
sectS have shown marked intelligence.
One is very striking. keaumer cut off
the edge of new coat which larva of a
tlnea moth bad sewn together out of elm
leaf. The larva sewed up the rent; and
not only so, but, the scissors having cut
on one Of the projections intended to en-
ter into the construction of the triangu-
lar end of the case, it entirely changed
the original plan and made that end the
head which had been first designed for
the tail"
Nan is but rarely brought into contact
with fishes in the way OF study of life.
shall not dwell on the instinct of the
stlckleoack in making its nest and Sc
| curing harem, nor on the curiosities
shown by the jewellers in the water when
| light is brought near to them, nor on the
| habits Of the angler fish and the shooting
tsh. 1t will not be much to our present
| purpose to discuss the 'homing instinct"
OF the salmon and, therefore, l proceed to
give few stories which indicate that
even nsh have powers deserving of the
name-intelligence
That obsery ant naturalist and faithful
| historian of country scenes and occupa-
lions, Edward Jesse, SAYS: AT Dubson,
near Birmingham, England, about thirty
! years ago, ther9 was in small pond in
| the garden large tame perch, which put
everything offered him into his mouth
and did not seem to be afraid of anything
even presented my finger to him, which
! he tried in the most vigorous manner to
| get down his throat, pressing against the
end of it with distended Jaws and with a
wrlggliug motion performed by means of
the tail. l also lifted him out of
| the pond without soaring him. If
he was not visible at any moment when
the water was splashed by the hand he
soon appeared and remained some time
near the surface looking about, after
! which, if there was nothing for him, he
| always lies at the bottom, commonly upon
the ground, where he rests, like all his
| species, under the same circumstances,
on the tips of the ventral fins and the tip
OF the tail. He was extremely deliberate
and sober in his proceedings, moving as
little as possible"
1t has been a common thing for many
centuries to keep carp in tanks and there
are numberless instances of their becom-
ing tame. Nor is this keeping of tame fish
| peculiar to civilized" countries. Wal
lace, in describing his visit to Gunong
Sari, in the Malay Archipelago says
within was an enclosure with two square
| fish ponds and some fine trees, then an
| other gateway, through which we entered
into park. On the right was a brick
| house, built somewhat in the Hindoo
| style, and placed on a high terrace
or platform; on the left large fish pond,
| supplied by a little rivulet which en-
| tered it out of the mouth of a gigantic
crocodile well executed in brick and stone.
The edges of the pond were bricked, and
| in the center rose a fantastic and pic
turesque pavilion, ornamented by gro
tesque statues. The pond was well
stocked with fine fish, which come every
| morning to be fed at the sound of a
wooden gong, which is hung near for the
| purpose. On striking it mum Der of fish
Immediately came out of the masses of
weed with which the pond abounds, and
folio wed us along the margin, expecting
| food" Add dusky beauties feeding the
expectant fishes and you have a scene
worthy Watteau's pencil.
The sense of touch and taste seem to be
weak in fish, but there is a sense for
which it would be hard to find a name
That is sense by which they discover
the direction of water. Every angler
knows how persistently fish laid upon
he vi, hau oil ,,,I
the stream. Eels often perform journeys
overland in search of water-Uut here
we are simply talking about what every
one calls instinct"
If the follow ing story were not vouched
for by people with name for veracity to
lose it would well be relegated to the limbo
of fish stories" 1t is, however, given by
Ernest Menault in his Intelligence of
Animals" and was believed by DR..
Jonathan Franklin-no mean naturalist.
1t was also read before a learned
society, the Literary and Philo-
sophical Society of Liverpool, by
Or. Warwick, in 1850, who says: when
lived at Durham l was walking one
evening in park belonging to the Earl of
Stanford along the bank of a lake where
fishes abounded My attention was
turned toward fine jack of about six
pounds, which, seeing me, darted into the
middle of the water. In its fight it
struck its head against the stump of a
post, fractured its skull, and wounded
part OF the optic nerve. The animal gave
signs of ungovernable pain, plunged to
the bottom of the water, burying its head
in the mud, and turning with such rapid
ity that lost it for moment; then it re-
turned to the top, and threw itself clean
out of the water onto the bank. | exam
ined the fish and found that a small part
of the brain had gone out through the
fracture OF the Uranium.
"Icarefully replaced the shattered brain
and, with a small silver tootpick, raised
the depressed parts of the SKULL. The fish
was very quiet during the operation; then
l replaced it in the pond. 1t seemed at
first relieved, but after some minutes it
threw itself about, plunged here and
there, and at last threw itself once more
out of the water. 1t continued thus to act
many times following. l called the
keeper, and, with his assistance, applied
bandage 10 the fracture. This done, we
threw the fish intn the water and left
him to his fate. The next morning when
appeared on the bank the pike came TO
me near where sat and put his head near
my feet. l thought the act extraordinary,
but taking up the fish without any resist
ence on it's part, examined the head and
found that it was going on well.
III then walked along the banks for
some time; the fish did not cease to swim
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