Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1895 — Do Fishes Converse? [ARTICLE]

Do Fishes Converse?

Ae have heard of the language of monkeys and of the language of hens and of tho language of crows and even of ants, but it will be a new idea to most people, probably, that fishes have a language of their own. An English fisherman, Basil Field, has been making some investigations which lead him to suppose that fishes have some way of communicating a notion of their experiences to other fishes. Mr. Field carried on his experiments in the fish ponds of Mr. Andrew at Guildford, England. Those ponds are full of trout, which nt the time when Mr. Field first visited them were so little accustomed to being t roubled that when he threw a baited hook into the water all the trout in eight—a great number—rushed eagerly upon It, says the Fortnightly Review. He caught one and, removing io from the hook, threw it buck into the pond. Then he put in a freshly baited hook. Two or three trout only came after it. One of these he caught and threw it back into the water. Again he resumed his fishing with a newly baited hook, and thia time, although the pond was swarming with fish, it was only after a long time that lie lured another trout to his bait. And after a little further time it was entirely impossible to catch a trout in this pond. However, by experimenting in another pond equally well stocked, and not throwing oack any fish, Mr. Field found he could catch trout as long ns he chose. The fish did not seem to understand that the removal of one of their number by this strange means meant danger to them, butcame continually to the bait. If, Mr. Field reasons, it is only when the captured fish, released, goes back and mingles with his fellows that the danger Is learned, and then is learned instantly, it must follow that the released fish has some means of making the others understand the perils of tho hook. This, whatever it Is, may be called a •* language.’’