Chapter VIII.

1. We must now treat of the Senses: for they are not alike in all, but some have all the senses, and some fewer. They are mostly five in number; seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, touch, and besides these there are none peculiar to any creatures. Man, then, and all viviparous animals with feet, besides all sanguineous and viviparous animals, have all these, unless they are undeveloped in any particular kind, as in the mole.

2. For this creature has no sight, it has no apparent eyes, but when the thick skin which surrounds the head is taken away, in the place where the eyes ought to be on the outside, are the undeveloped internal eyes, which have all the parts of true eyes, for they have both the iris of the eye, and within the iris the part called the pupil, and the white; but all these are less than in true eyes. On the outside there is no appearance of these parts, from the thickness of the skin, as if the nature of the eye had been destroyed at birth; for there are two sinewy and strong passages proceeding from the brain, where it unites with the spinal cord, reaching from the socket of the eye, and ending upon the upper sharp teeth.

3. All other animals are endued with the perception of colours, sounds, smells, and taste. All animals have the fifth sense, which is called touch. In some animals the organs of sense are very distinct, and especially the eyes, for they have a definite place, and so has the hearing. For some animals have ears, and others open perforations: so also of the sense of smelling, some animals have nostrils, others passages, as the whole class of birds. In the same way the tongue is the organ of taste.

4. In aquatic animals and those called fish, the tongue is still the organ of taste, though it is indistinct, for it is bony, and not capable of free motion. In some fish the roof of the mouth is fleshy, as in some cyprini among river fish, so that, without careful examination, it appears like a tongue. That they have the sense of taste is quite clear, for many of them delight in peculiar food, and they will more readily seize upon a bait formed of the amia and other fat fishes, as if they delighted in the taste and eating of such baits.

5. They have no evident organ of hearing and smelling, for the passages which exist about the region of the nostrils in some fish do not appear to pass to the brain, but some of them are blind, and others lead to the gills; it is evident, however, that they both hear and smell, for they escape from loud noises, such as the oars of the triremes, so as to be easily captured in their hiding-places.

6. For if the external noise is not loud, yet to all aquatic animals that are capable of hearing, it appears harsh and very loud; and this takes place in hunting dolphins, for when they have enclosed them with their canoes, they make a noise from them in the sea, and the dolphins, crowded together, are obliged to leap upon the land, and, being stunned with the noise, are easily captured, although even dolphins have no external organs of hearing.

7. And again in fishing, the fishermen are careful to avoid making a noise with their oars or net when they perceive many fish collected in one place; they make a signal, and let down their nets in such a place that no sound of the oar or the motion of the waters should reach the place where the fish are collected, and the sailors are commanded to row in the greatest silence until they have enclosed them.

8. Sometimes, when they wish to drive them together, they proceed as in dolphin catching, for they make a noise with stones that they may be alarmed and collected together, and thus they are enclosed in a net. Before their inclosure, as it was said, they prevent a noise, but as soon as they have enclosed them, they direct the sailors to shout and make a noise, for they fall down with fear when they hear the noise and tumult.

9. And when the fishers observe large shoals at a distance, collected on the surface in calm, fine weather, and wish to know their size, and of what kind they are, if they can approach them in silence, they avoid their notice, and catch them while they are on the surface. If any noise is made before they reach them, they may be seen in flight. In the rivers, also, there are little fish under the stones, which some persons call cotti:[143] from their dwelling beneath rocks, they catch them by striking the rocks with stones, and the fishes fall down frightened when they hear the noise, being stunned by it. It is evident, from these considerations, that fishes have the sense of hearing.

10. There are persons who say that fish have more acute ears than other animals, and that, from dwelling near the sea, they have often remarked it. Those fish which have the most acute ears are the cestreus[144] (chremps),[145] labrax,[146] salpe,[147] chromis,[148] and all such fishes; in others the sense of hearing less acute, because they live in the deeper parts of the ocean.

11. Their nature of smelling is the same, for the greater number of fishes will not take a bait that is not quite fresh; others are less particular. All fish will not take the same bait, but only particular baits, which they distinguish by the smell; for some are taken with stinking baits, as the salpe with dung. Many fish also live in the holes of rocks, and when the fishermen want to entice them out, they anoint the mouths of these holes with salted scents, to which they readily come.

12. The eel also is enticed out in this way, for they place a pitcher of salt food, covering the mouth of the pitcher with another vessel pierced with holes, and the eels are quickly drawn forth by the smell of the bait. Baits made of the roasted flesh of the cuttle fish, on account of its strong smell, attract fish very readily. They say they put the roasted flesh of the polypus upon their hooks for nothing but its strong smell.

13. And the fish called rhyades,[149] when the washings of fish or of fœtid drains are emptied into the water, make their escape as if smelling the fœtid odour. They say that fish soon smell the blood of their own kind; this is plain from their hastening from any place where the blood of fishes may be. On the whole, if any one use a putrid bait, the fish will not come near it; but if a fresh strong-smelling bait is used, they will come to it from a great distance.

14. This is especially observable in what was said of dolphins, for these creatures have not external organs of hearing, but are captured by being stunned with a noise, as was before observed; neither have they any external organs of smell, yet their scent is acute. Therefore, it is evident that all creatures have these senses. Other kinds of animals are divided into four classes; and these contain the multitude of remaining animals, namely, the malacia, malacostraca, testacea, and insects.

15. Of these the malacia, the malacostraca, and insects have all the senses, for they can see, smell, and taste. Insects, whether they have wings or are apterus, can smell from a great distance, as the bee and the cnips[150] scent honey, for they perceive it from a long distance, as if they discovered it by the scent. Many of them perish by the fumes of sulphur: ants leave their hills when origanum and sulphur are sprinkled upon them. Almost all of them escape from the fumes of burnt stags' horns, but most of all do they avoid the smell of burnt styrax.

16. The sepia, also, the polypus, and the carabus are caught with baits; the polypus holds the bait so fast that it holds on even when cut: if a person hold conyza to them, they let go as soon as they smell it. So, also, of the sense of taste, for they follow different kinds of food, and do not all prefer the same food, as the bee approaches nothing that is putrid, only sweet things; the gnat not what is sweet, but what is acid.

17. As I before observed, the sense of touch belongs to all animals. The testacea have the senses of smelling and tasting. This is plain from the baits used, as those for the purpuræ; for this creature is caught with putrid substances, and will be attracted from a great distance to such baits, as if by the sense of smell. It is evident from what follows that they possess the sense of taste; for whatever they select by smell, they all love to taste.

18. And all animals with mouths receive pain or pleasure from the contact of food. But, concerning the senses of sight and hearing, it is not possible to say anything certain, or very distinct; the solens, if a person touch them, appear to retract themselves, and try to escape when they see an instrument approaching them, for a small portion of them is beyond the shell, the remainder as it were in a retreat; the pectens, also, if a finger is brought near them, open and shut themselves as if they could see.

19. Those who seek for neritæ do not approach them with the wind, when they seek them for baits, nor do they speak, but come silently, as if the creatures could both smell and hear; they say that if they speak, they get away. Of all testacea, the echinus appears to have the best sense of smell amongst those that can move, and the tethya and balanus in those that are fixed. This is the nature of the organs of sense in all animals.