ed by fishes, it is more than probable that called. It consisted of the very minutest pieces numerous manifestations of instinct among of straw, or sticks, the exact color of the ground them escape our observation. Their mi- at the bottom of the water, on which it was laid: grations are, however, well known to be so that it was next to an impossibility for any one undertaken in obedience to an instinctive work, or observed the eggs. The nest is someto discover the nest, unless they saw the fish at impulse compelling them to seek pro- thing larger than a shilling, and has a top or coper localities for the deposition of their ver, with a hole in the centre, about the size of a ova. Under the influence of this impulse, very small nut, in which are deposited the eggs, many fishes, as the salmon, frequently or spawn. This opening is frequently concealed overcome the most formidable obstacles; by drawing small fragments over it; but this is but it has been reserved for naturalists of not always the case. Many times have I taken the present day to confirm a still more around, which they instantly devoured with the up the nest, and thrown the eggs to the multitude wonderful display of instinct in these anigreatest voracity. These eggs are about the size mals with which the ancients appear to of poppy seeds, and of a bright yellow color; but have, been acquainted, though treated as fa- I have at times seen them almost black, which I bulous by their successors. We allude to suppose is an indication that they are approaching the construction of a nest by a certain to life. speIn making the nest, I observed that the cies of fish for the reception of their ova, fish used an unusual degree of force when cona fact, which has been observed and verified veying the material to its destination. When the fish was about an inch from the nest, it suddenly by Mr. Couch himself; the following ac- darted at the spot, and left the tiny fragment in its counts we give from his book: place; after which it would be engaged for half a minute in adjusting it. The nest, when taken up, did not separate, but hung together, like a piece of wood.""-p. 249.

"It is the opinion of naturalists, that however powerfully the feel ng of love to their offspring, and the mixture of reason with instinct in the development of it, is diffused among animals of the land, nothing of the kind exists among fishes; and that the utmost extent of the care bestowed by them in increasing and multiplying their kind consists, as in the familiar instance of the salmon, in covering over the spawn at the bottom of the river, in a furrow of the soil which itself has made; or in depositing it in some situation which shall expose it to the influences of light and air. "The ancient naturalists, Oppian and Aristotle, were, however, of a different opinion; and the latter more particularly, asserts, probably on the authority of fishermen, that some fishes are in the habit of forming nests, in which they deposit and watch over their spawn. But this supposition of the father of systematic Natural History has been slighted as without foundation, by more modern naturalists; and it is only recently that a claim has been re-advanced in favor of this instinct in fishes. It is not a little extraordinary that the species for which this claim has been made are those with which we might have been most familiarly acquainted, and our ignorance of their habits, therefore, can only have proceeded from

inattention

The following most interesting account of the nidification of fishes originally appeared as a communication to the Royal Institution of Cornwall, from the pen of the author's son, Mr. R. Q. Couch, and was sub66 Zoologist." sequently republished in the As the author himself has verified the greater part of his son's observations, their accuracy may be depended on.

666

During the summers of 1842 and 1843, while searching for the naked mollusks of the county, I occasionally discovered portions of seaweed and the common coralline (Corallina offici nalis) hanging from the rocks in pear-shaped mas ses, variously intermingled with each other. On one occasion, having observed that the mass was very curiously bound together by a slender silkenlooking thread, it was torn open, and the centre was found to be occupied by a mass of transparent amber-colored ova, each being about the tenth of an inch in diameter. Though examined on the spot with a lens, nothing could be discovered to "The first minutely-recorded observation of this indicate their character; they were, however, kept habit is found in a little magazine, The Youth's in a basin, and daily supplied with sea-water, and Instructor,' for the year 1834; and though the writer eventually proved to be the young of some fish. is clearly unacquainted with Natural History as a The nest varies a great deal in size, but rarely exscience, his observations bear much of the cha-ceeds six inches in length, or four inches in racter of truth, and may be easily either corroborated or set aside as untrue by those who are more favorably placed for observation. The prickle-fish-in a large dock for shipping on the river Thames, thousands of these fish were bred some years ago; and I have often amused myself for hours by observing them. While multitudes have been enjoying themselves near the shore, in the warm sunshine, others have been busily en gaged in making their nests, if a nest it may be

breadth; it is pear-shaped, and composed of seaweed, or the common coralline, as they hang sus pended from the rock. They are brought toge ther, without being detached from their places of growth, by a delicate opaque white thread. This thread is highly elastic, and very much resembles silk, both in appearance and texture; this is brought round the plants and tightly binds them together, plant after plant, till the ova, which are deposited early, are completely hidden from view.

This silk-like thread is passed in all directions the armature of spines furnished with the through and around the mass in a very complicated samc object to many other fishes. manner. At first the thread is semi-fluid, but by exposure it solidifies, and hence contracts and binds the substances forming the nest so closely together that it is able to withstand the violence of the sea, and may be thrown carelessly about without derangement. In the centre are deposited he ova, very similar to the masses of frog-spawn

in ditches.'

"Some of these nests are formed in pools, and are consequently always in water; others are frequently to be found between tide-marks, in situa tions where they hang dry for several hours in the day; but whether in the water,, or liable to hang dry, they are always watched by the adult animal. On one occasion I repeatedly visited one every day for three weeks, and invariably found it guarded. On several occasions I laid the eggs bare, by removing a portion of the nest, but, when this was discovered, great exertions were instantly made to re-recover them. By the mouth of the fish the edges of the opening were again drawn together, and other portions torn from their at tachments, and brought over the orifice, till the ova were again hid from view. And as great force was sometimes necessary to effect this, the fish would thrust its snout into the nest as far as the eyes, and then jerk backwards till the object was effected. While thus engaged, it would suffer itself to be taken in the hand, but repelled any attack made on the nest, and quitted not its post so long as I remained; and to those nests that were left dry between tide-marks, the guardian fish always returned with the returning tide, nor did they quit their post to any great distance, till again carried away by the receding tide.'”—p. 254.

The same gentleman states that he has observed another kind of nest which showed "considerably less skill in the fabrication, but more perseverance and continued energy. These were formed of the common coralline, forced into a cavity or crevice of a rock but as the coralline used in the construction of these last-described nests is sometimes not to be found within one or two hundred feet, it must be gradually gathered and brought from a distance; and as the quantity is large it shows an intelligence and perseverance truly wonderful."

After these interesting particulars of the existence of such a habit in a class of animals where least it could have been suspected to exist, it is almost unnecessary to adduce any further proofs of the presence of the particular faculty we claim for them, especially as Mr. Couch himself admits an "instinctive care of their progeny in fishes." We may, however, be permitted to mention the peculiar means of defence provided in the electric eel and the torpedo, as well as

"The torpedo (T. nobiliana and its congeners), conscious of being without the spines which confamily to which it belongs, when only just exclude from the egg, displays the will to exert the same [electric] power; and none of the creatures It is a curious circumstance, that several species of furnished with it are known to resort to any other. fishes which possess a formidable arrangement of spines, are yet furnished with them in such situations, and with the points so directed, as to appear the least likely to be effective against an adversary; and yet, when brought into operation, some sudden motion shows how well acquainted they This is well exemplified in the spines, in many are with the uses of which they are susceptible. instances curiously incurvated or notched, of sharks and ray fishes: in some of which these organs are so arranged as if to render them incapable of inflicting an injury; and yet, by some enemies to those who venture to attack them. peculiarity of action, these fishes are formidable Sticklebacks (Gasterostei) also, and probably the Scad (Caranx trachurus), employ their spines, and even their lateral plates, in lacerating such of the scaly tribe as seek to injure them ”—p. 73.

stitute the means of defence of most of the natural

We have frequently observed the same means of defence resorted to by the freshwater perch, which, lying temptingly near the surface of the water, as if to invite attention, will erect the spiny rays of its dorsal fin, and severely lacerate the hand of any one incautiously attempting to seize it.

We now enter upon the consideration of a new order of beings, retaining no trace of the vertebral column characteristic of the four great groups we have just been speaking of, and which, instead of possessing an internal framework of bones on which their bodies are modelled, are cased in a horny or membranous suit of armor, which serves as the external support for their muscles, as well as a protection to the internal tissues and organs. Insects furnish some of the most striking instances of instinct that can be found in the whole animal kingdom; though Mr. Couch somewhat unaccountably dismisses them by merely quoting a few descriptions of extraordinary migrations of what he terms "a class of animals, in which the modes of proceeding, and the motives which lead to them, are so obscure as to preclude any attempt at explanation." Many of the proceedings and motives of insects are doubtless obscure; but far more are so clearly expressed that "he who runs may read." Some insects, for example, under the impulse of providing for that off

stood. Nor can we fail to understand the intention of the coat of armor formed around itself of small stones, shells, or bits of stick, by the larva of the Phryganea; the use of the paper manufactured by the

honey provided by the bee; of the covering of down stripped from its own body by the female of the gipsy moth, with which its mass of eggs is protected from the severity of winter; these are all equally easy of comprehension: and no one at all acquainted with these interesting creatures and their habits will venture to deny them the possession of instinct, nor, in some cases, of a certain amount of reason either. For, as Mr. Couch, in the main accurately observes, though with a slight confusion of terms at the outset,

spring whieh the parents are never to behold, after constructing a suitable habitation in which to deposit their eggs, with an admirable instinct are actually at great pains to furnish the larder with such food as the young one will stand in need of on its ex-wasp; of the waxen cells and store of clusion from the egg, and so placed as to be readily accessible the moment it is required. Nor is the nature of this food less a proof of instinct than the fact of its being stored up in some cases it is of a vegetable nature; in others, a living caterpillar, belonging to some other species, is seized by the parent insect, rendered insensible, but not killed (which would defeat the object), by a puncture from the sting of its captor, and conveyed to the nest wherein the egg is to be deposited. Every one has observed the caterpillar of the common cabbage butterfly apparently brooding upon a heap of yellow eggs. This affords a beautiful illustration of instinct on the part of a small black fly which deposits its eggs within the body of the living caterpillar. The young grubs, when evolved from the egg, feed upon the internal tissues of their victim, instinctively avoiding, however, to attack any vital part, since the premature death of the caterpillar would ensure their own destruction. At length the time approaches for the parasites to take themselves a upon new condition of insect life, namely, that which immediately precedes their perfect winged condition; at the same period, the caterpillar infested by them instinctively seeks out some spot wherein it also may pass through the corresponding state of inactivity, preliminary to its appearance as a winged denizen of the air. No sooner, however, has it attached itself, than the grubs contained in its body make their exit through the skin; each spins its own little cocoon of yellow silk, wherein to await its final change. These cocoons are collected together beneath the body of the caterpillar, which, being now in too exhausted a condition to pass into the chrysalis state, speedily dies, while, after a short period, the parasites break from their cocoons and become perfect insects, in their turn seeking for new victims.

"The simplest instinct will vary its proceedings according to circumstances; and the smallest glim mering of reason will direct it to modify these proceedings according to situation, and as they may best lead to the desired result. In many creatures of the land this variation is of common occurrence, and is not only directed according to a change of circumstances, but sometimes seems to be under no better influence than caprice. The daubers, a genus of North American wasps, to save themselves the labor of building a cell, have been known to make use of a small bottle, closing the orifice with clay; and the mason bees (Osmia), which usually deposit their eggs in holes dug by themselves in walls or sand-banks, will embrace the opportunity of saving themselves labor, by employing for the same purpose the empty shell of a snail.-p. 258.

The next grand group in a descending order, comprises the molluscous and the vermiform animals, under the general name of mollusks. Here we lose both the internal bony skeleton of the vertebrated animals, and the external crustaceous covering of the Articulata, the typical members of the group being pre-eminently softbodied; whence the name. Among the higher orders of this group we find the cuttle-fish, the Argonauta or paper nautilus, and the pearly nautilus, each of which presents us with an instance of instinct acting for the preservation or the conWhoever has paid attention to the man-venience of the animal. ners of insects, wil be at no loss to under- From a very early period, naturalists stand many of their " modes of proceeding," have been aware of the power exercised by or "the motives which lead to them." the cuttle-fish, when in danger, of expelling The intention of the silken cord by which a black fluid, in sufficient quantity, when the caterpillar of many butterflies secures mingled with the surrounding water, to itself to a perpendicular wall previously to hide the animal from its pursuers. This becoming a chrysalis, cannot be misunder-fluid is secreted by a singular organ con

chamber. So that the number of chambers in the shell of the pearly nautilus varies according to the age of the individual.

nected with the intestine: the animal is, | member of this family, however, the enlargemoreover, furnished with parrot-like jaws, ment of the shell is effected by a much more put in motion by powerful muscles, well- elaborate process. Externally, the shell developed salivary glands, several sto- of the pearly nautilus has nothing more remachs, and a large liver; all indicating not markable in its appearance than that of the only that the instinctive feeling of hunger common garden snail; but a longitudinal is habitually experienced, but that the section shows it to be internally divided means of allaying that feeling are amply into a number of chambers by transverse provided; while the apparatus connected partitions of shelly matter, the outer chamwith the secretion and expulsion of the inky ber being the largest; and this contains fluid is expressly formed to enable an other- the body of the animal, the remainder being wise defenceless animal to exercise its in- unoccupied. The animal maintains a constinctive demand for self-preservation in the nexion with all the chambers by means of a manner most consistent with its mode of membranous tube, called a siphuncle, life and organization. which passes down through a perforation The interesting poetical fiction connected near the centre of each partition. When it with the argonaut or paper nautilus, wherein becomes necessary to enlarge the shell to it is represented as sailing on the surface of accommodate it to the growth of the animal, the sea, its fragile shell forming the hull of the latter not only adds fresh layers of its vessel, the two expanded membranous shelly matter to the outer edge, so as to arms being erected and acting as sails, enlarge the chamber in which it resides, while the six tapering arms were used as but at the same time constructs a new oars, has, for ages, rendered that animal partition across the inner part, below an object of interest; and notwithstanding its body, so as to form an additional that these particulars have been proved fictitious, recent researches into its true history have shown the mollusk to be no less deserving consideration from its every- This habit of forming chambers in the day actions, than from the exploded func- shelly covering of the mollusks is not contions poetically ascribed to it. From the fined to the higher members of the family, excessive thinness of the beautiful shell, to but is also practised, though from a differwhich, by the way, the animal has no mus-ent cause, by some of the more simply orcular attachment, and its extreme fragility, ganized individuals. it is constantly liable to fracture by being tossed about at the mercy of the waves. When this happens, and it is no unusual occurrence, the animal instinctively repairs the fracture by a new deposition of shelly 1 matter to the broken portion, by means of the membranous mantle. This circumstance, observed in a number of argonauts kept in confinement in an open cage sunk in the sea in the Bay of Messina, by Madame Power, removed the doubts of naturalists as to the animal being really the architect of its own habitation; since the regular increase in the size of the shell to correspond with the growth of the animal was witnessed, as well as the power of repairing the shell when broken either intentionally or accidentally.

The shell of the Argonauta contains but one spiral cavity, into which the animal can wholly withdraw itself. When by the growth of its body the animal finds its habitation too small for it, like other mollusks it has the power of increasing its dimensions by successive additions of shelly matter to the outer edge. In an allied

In the case of the water-clam (Spondylus varius), a bivalve nearly allied to the common oyster, and which, like the oyster, is attached by the outer surface of the lower valve of its shell to some extraneous body, when the animal happens to be developed beneath the overhanging ledge of a coral reef, or in a situation where, having no power of locomotion, it would run the risk of being overgrown by the coral, it resorts to the expedient of carrying forward its dwelling-chamber, by a series of new formations of shelly matter, so as always to keep its respiratory and nutritive apparatus on a level with the surrounding zoophytes. A longitudinal section of these shells exhibits sometimes as many as fourteen such chambers, separated from each other by stout and regularly-formed partitions. The common oyster, when, from a deficiency of food, its body has shrunk số as no longer to fill the interior of the shell, will form a new layer of nacre, and thus adapt the cavity to its changed condition, by adding a chamber in the rear of its diminished body.

In the next grand group of animated na

ture, the Radiata, we reach the lowest types of organization, among which, if at any part of the scale of being, we should be most warranted in looking for evidences of the entire absence of animal instinct. A few examples of actions evidently performed under the impulse of that innate sensation, which, independently of instruction, insures both the preservation of the individual and the continuance of the species, will, however, demonstrate that, in its proper sense, these lowly beings, equally with man, are subject to the promptings of instinct.

in the scale of animal nature (and equally in the vegetable kingdom), the more functions do we find performed by one organ. But observe a living starfish, or a living Holothuria, and see what effective organs of progression these soft, flexible, weaklooking tubes are. I have seen an Echinus miliaris, a Spatangus purpureus, and an Amphidotus roseus, all walk along the bottom and up the sides of a dish of salt water, by means of their inferior tentacula; and the first mentioned anchored itself by extending and bending its superior suckers, so as to reach the bottom of the dish.—History of British Starfishes, p. 144.

ticular one that pleases it best." This is almost an act of reason.

The passage above quoted will show by Beginning with the order Echinodermata, what means the common sea-urchin, or seaor those radiated animals, whose integu- egg (Echinus sphæra), is enabled to perment is covered with spines or prickles, we form a not unusual feat, related by Mr. find among them the star-fishes (Asteriada), Couch, who says that this animal," though whose beauty and symmetry, as Professor apparently destitute of every sense or posForbes well observes, have "attracted the sibility of regarding external objects, by attention of such observers of nature as sight or hearing, will travel up the rods of a dwelt by the sea-side, from a very early pe- crab-pot, enter the opening, descend within, riod." These members of the Echinoder-mount again to the bait, and select the parmata are adduced by Mr. Couch, as examples exhibiting the earliest manifestations of a true nervous system; and these aniAmong the Crustacea, there is a family mals, he continues, "though seemingly of crabs, named Paguridæ, or hermit-crabs, very inert, and destitute of intelligence, dis- which, instead of being entirely cased in play some sagacity in the discovery and armor, as are the other members of the choice of food, as well as in the manner of class, have merely the claws enclosed in seeking it; and are liable to variations of the usual calcareous envelope, the thorax habit in the different seasons of the year." being less firm, and the abdomen quite At the extremity of each ray, in the true naked. Many of these crabs defend their star-fishes, is a small red point, connected soft tails by taking up their abode in empty with the nervous cord of the ray, and pro- univalve shells, to the interior of which tected by a circle of spines, capable of be- they attach themselves by a sucker placed ing expanded or closed at the will of the at the extremity of the tail, and only quit animal. These points are believed to be their habitation when the increase in size of organs of vision, which belief is strengthen- their own bodies renders it necessary to ed by its being observed that the star-fishes look out for a new domicile. Among the take cognizance of food placed at a short Radiata is a species of very simple organidistance from them. In their movements from | zation, which resorts to a similar expedient place to place, they seem to avoid obstacles for the protection of its soft body, with an lying in their path; and, from all observation, additional display of ingenuity not evinced they doubtless perform various actions under the influence of the instinctive impulse.

by the crab. Professor Forbes thus describes the habit of this creature, which he has named the Shell-bearing Sipunculas (Sipunculas Bernhardus):

"The species [of the genus Sipunculas] bury in sand, or in the crevices of rocks, or, as is the custom of the curious animal before us, adopt the shells of dead univalve Testacea for a house and

Among the Echinodermata, progression is effected by means of suckers and spines. The star-fishes, or Asteriadæ, employ the former exclusively; the sea-urchins, or Echinidæ, progress by means of the joint action of their suckers and spines. Professor Forbes observes, that " many sea-home, after the manner of the hermit-crab. The urchins, such as live on hard surfaces, moor themselves also by means of the suckers, and thus adhere very firmly to the rocks,"

Sipunculas would appear, however, to be of a less changeable disposition of mind and body than its housed in a shell, to make that its permanent crustacean analogue, and when once secure y habitation. Whether the egg is originally depo "There can be no doubt that in all the Echino-sited in the future habitation of the animal, by derms provided with these suckers, they serve not merely for progression. The lower we descend

and continues:

some wonderful instinct, or is only developed when lodged by the waters in such a locality, or