1. The number of fishes	8. Stomach
2. Their covering	9. Fins
3. Their brain	10. Experiments on fish
4. Organs of sense	11. Of shell-fish
5. Gills, or lungs	12. Of the generation of fishes
6. Heart	13. Of some particular sorts of fishes
7. Air bladder	14. General reflections

The ocean is the great receptacle of fishes. It has been thought by some, that all fishes are naturally of the. salt element, and that they have mounted up into fresh water, by some accidental migrations. A few still swim up rivers to deposite their spawn:

but the great body of fishes, of which the size is enormous, and the shoals endless, keep to the sea, and would expire in fresh water. In that extensive and undiscovered abode, millions reside, whose manners are a secret to us, and whose very form is unknown. The curiosity of mankind, indeed, has drawn some from their depths, and his wants many more. With the figure of these at least he is acquainted: but for their pursuits, societies, antipathies, pleasures, times of gestation, and manner of bringing forth, these all are hidden in the turbulent element that protects them.

1. Number of fish to which we have given names, and of the figure, at least, of which we know something, are above four hundred. Thus, to appearance, the history of fish’ is tolerably copious; but when we come to examine, it will be found the greatest part of these we know very little of.

2. As most animals that live upon land have a covering to keep off the injuries of the weather, so all that live in the water, are covered with a slimy, glutinous matter, that, like a sheath, defends their bodies from the surrounding fluid. This substance, secreted from the pores of the animal’s body, serves not only to defend, but to assist the fish’s easy progress through the water. Beneath this, in many kinds, is found a strong covering of scales, that, like a coat of mail, defends it still more powerfully; and under at, before we come to the muscular parts of the body, an oily substance, which supplies the requisite warmth and vigour.

3.It is observable in all, that though their heads are much larger in proportion to their bodies, yet their brain is consider ably less than that of other animals. It consists of only two small ventricles, placed in the forepart of the head.

4.Their organs of sense do not much differ from those of other animals. But in their eyes this is peculiar, that they are quite spherical, and that the optic nerves, in coming from the brain, cross each other: whereas in other animals they incline a little to each other, but do not meet. A protuberant eye would bye been inconvenient for fishes, by hindering their motion in so dose a medium. And their continually brushing through the water, ‘would have been apt to wear their eyes. Therefore their cornea is flat. But to make amends for this, and for the refraction of water, different from that of air, the wise Creator has made their crystalline spherical, which in other animals is more fiat. It was formerly believed, they did not hear at all. But from later experiments, there is reason to believe, that several species of them do hear, though but- in a low degree. Over the two holes in their bead, which serve for smelling, a fine membrane is spread, by which means they can open and shut them at pleasure; a contrivance highly necessary for creatures that live in. the water.

The sense of smelling, which in beasts is so exquisite, and among birds is not wholly unknown, seems given to fishes in a very moderate proportion. It is true, that all fishes have one or more nostrils, and even those that have not the holes perceptible without, yet have the proper formation of the bones for smelling within. But as air is the only medium we know, for the distribution of odours, it cannot be supposed that these animals, residing in water, can be possessed of any power of being ‘affected y them. If they have any perception of smells, it must be in tie same manner as we distinguish by our taste; and it is probable, the olfactory membrane in fishes, serves then; instead of a distinguishing palate : by this they judge of substances, that first tincturing the water with their vapours, are thus sent to the nostrils of the fish, and no doubt produce some kind of sensation. This most probably must be the use of that organ in those animals; as otherwise there would be the instrument of a sense provided for them, without any power in them of enjoyment.

Hearing in fishes is found still more imperfect, if it be found at all. Certain it is, that anatomists have not been able to discover, except in the whale-kind, the smallest traces of an organ of hearing, either within or without the head. Indeed, of what advantage would this sense be to animals that are incapable of making themselves heard They have no voice to communicate with each other, and consequently have no need of an organ for hearing.

Seeing seems to be the sense which fishes are possessed of in the greatest degree. And yet even this is obscure, if we compare it to that of other animals. The eye, in almost all fish, is covered with the same transparent skin that covers the rest of the head; and which probably serves to defend it from the water, as they are without eyelids. The globe of the eye is depressed before, and is furnished behind with a muscle, which serves to lengthen or flatten it, according to the necessities of the animal. The crystalline humour, which in beasts is flat, and of the shape of a button mould, in fishes is as round as a pea; or sometimes oblong, like an egg.

From all this, it appears, that fishes are extremely near-sighted; and that, even in the water, they can see objects only at a very small distance.

Thus nature seems to have fitted these animals with appetites and powers of an inferior kind; and formed them for a sort of passive existence in the obscure and heavy clement to which they are consigned: to preserve their own existence, and to continue it to their posterity, fill up the whole circle of their pursuits and enjoyments.

5. Some fishes have LUNGS. But in the greater part the place of them is supplied by GILLS. As we take in and throw out the air by our lungs, so they take in the air, mixt with the water, by their mouth and throw it out by their gills.

There is always much air enclosed in water. This the gills separate from it, and present to the blood, as it is presented in the lungs of other animals. Each gill contains a great number of bony lamin, consisting of an infinity of bony fibres, that sustain the innumerable ramifications of .the veins and arteries, which present the blood extremely subdivided, and as it were, each globule by itself to the water: between the laminae, through the whole contexture of the gills, are an infinity of very narrow passages, which receive and divide the water taken in by the mouth, into minute particles. Then the air, its prison-doors being in some measure opened, escapes and joins the blood of all the little arteries.

The gills have an alternate motion of dilatation and compression. When they dilate, the water is taken in; when they contract, it is driven out. It seems, that in the instant of contraction, the air expressed from the water is forced into the blood-vessels. It is the same, as to our lungs. The air enters them at the time of inspiration, but is received into the blood at the time of expiration only. So that the water which is taken in by the mouth of fishes, when stript of its air, is carried off by the gills. Mean time, the air which is thus gained is distributed, first to those Fine ramifications of the arteries, which are expanded upon the gill throughout, and then to the veins inosculated therewith. And fishes can no more live without a constant supply of this, than land animals can.

The gills in all fishes are eight, four On each side. The lower gill is always smaller than the rest. The other three on each side are gradually larger to the top one, which is always the largest. Each of these is formed of a bony substance, bent into the shape either of a semicircle or a bow. On the convex side of this, there is a sort of plumes or leaves, each of which consists of a double row of bony lamella, formed like so many sickles, and fixed to the convex side of the bow by means of the membrane wherewith it is covered.

These lamella have one part convex, and the other concave. The concave part of each lamella is applied to the convex part of the next opposite larnella. Every larnella is invested, with a. fine membrane, which receives the ramifications of the blood-vessels. Every gill has an artery, a vein, and a nerve. The gills receive the blood which is thrown from the heart into the aorta, and drive it to the utmost parts of the lamella, from whence it returns by veins which distribute it throughout the body.

6. In most fishes the HEART is like that in other animals. But in some it has only one ventricle; which necessarily occasions a difference in the manner wherein the blood circulates. In some also the blood is not red, but clear and transparent. In others, especially shell-fish, besides the arteries and veins, there are open tube’s, which convey the water to the farthest part of them: probably that they may find no want of water, when they continue some time on shore.

7. The AIR-BLADDER is described as a bag filled with air, sometimes composed. of one, sometimes of two. and sometimes of three divisions, situated towards the back of the fish, and opening into the maw or the gullet. It is commonly supposed, by its swelling at the will of the animal, to increase the surface of the fish’s body, and so to enable it to rise to the top of the water, and keep there at pleasure. On the contrary, when the fish wants to descend, it is supposed to empty this bladder of its air, and so sink to the bottom.

But many fishes have an air-bladder, that continually crawl a’.. the bottom; such as the eel and the flounder: and many more are entirely without it, that swim in every depth; such as the anchovy and the fresh water gudgeon. Indeed, the number of fishes that want this organ, is alone a sufficient proof that it is not necessary for the purposes of swimming: and the ventral fins, which in all fishes lie flat upon the water, are fully sufficient to keep them at all depths.

8. The STOMACH is, in general, placed next the. mouth, and though not sensibly hot, is endued with a surprising faculty of digestion. Its digestive powers seem in some measure to increase with the quantity of food it is supplied with; a single pike having been known to devour a hundred roaches in three days. Its faculties also are as extraordinary, for it digests not only soft fish, but prawns, crabs and lobsters, shells and all. These the cod or the sturgeon will not only devour, but dissolve, though their shells are so much harder than the sides of the stomach which contains them. This amazing faculty in the cold stomach of fishes has justly excited the curiosity of philosophers; and has effectually overturned the system of those who suppose the heat of the stomach is alone a sufficient instrument for digestion. The truth seems to be, that there is a power of animal assimulation lodged in the stomach of all creatures, which we can neither describe nor define, converting the substances they swallow into a fluid, fitted for their own peculiar support. This is done neither by trituration, nor by warmth, nor by motion, nor by a dissolving fluid; but by some principle yet unknown, which acts in a, different manner from all kinds of artificial maceration.

Yet though fish are thus hungry, and for ever prowling, no animals can suffer the want of food for SO long a time. The gold and silver fish which we keep in vases, seem never to want any nourishment at all; whether it be that they feed on the water-insects, too minute for our observation, or that water alone is a sufficient supply. Even the pike, the, most voracious of fishes, will live in a pond where there is none but himself, and what is more extraordinary, will be often found to thrive there.

Air however is so necessary to all fish, that they can live but a few minutes without it; yet nothing is more difficult to be accounted for, than the manner in which they obtain this necessary supply. Those who have seen a fish in the water, must remember the motion of its lips and its gills, or at least of the hones on each side that cover them. This motion in the animal is, without doubt, analogous to our breathing, but it is not air, but water, that the fish actually takes in anJ throws out through the gills at every motion.

The manner of its breathing seems to be this. The fish first takes a quantity of water by the mouth, which is driven to the gills, these close and keep the water so swallowed from returning by the mouth, while the bony covering of the gills prevents it from going through them, until the animal has drawn the proper quantity of air from the body of water thus imprisoned; then the bony covers open and give it a free passage; by which means also the gills again are opened, and admit a fresh quantity of water. Should the fish be prevented from the free play of its gills, or should time bony covers be kept from moving, by a string tied round them, the animal would soon fall into convulsions, and (lie in a few minutes.

9. The chief instruments in a fish’s motion are the FINS, which in some are much more numerous than in others. A fish completely fitted for sailing is furnished with two pair; also three single fins, two above and one below., .Thus equipped, it migrates with the utmost rapidity, and takes voyages of a thousand leagues in a season. But such fish as have the greatest number of fins have not always the swiftest motion. The shark is one of the swiftest swimmers, yet it wants the ventral fins; the haddock does not move so swift, though it has them.

The tins not only assist the animal in progression, but in rising or sinking, in turning, or even leaping out of the water. To answer these purposes, the pectoral fins serve like oars, to push the animal forward. They are placed behind the opening of the gills; they are generally large and strong, and answer the same purposes to the fish as wings do to a bird. Those also balance the fish’s head, when it is too large for the body, and keep it from tumbling prone to the bottom, as is seen in large-headed fishes, when the pectoral fins are cut off. Next these -are the ventral fins, placed under the belly. These are always seen to lie flat on the water, in whatever situation the fish may be; and they serve rather to raise or depress the fish, than to assist its progressive motion. The dorsal fin is situate along the ridge of the back ; and serves to keep it in equilibriom In many fishes this is wanting; but in all flat fishes it is very large, as the pectoral fins are proportionably small. Lastly, the tail, which in some fishes is flat, and upright in others, seems to be the grand instrument of motion; the fins are all subservient to it, and give direction to its impetus, by which the fish darts forward with so much velocity. To explain all this, by experiment. a carp is taken, and put into a large vessel. The fish, in a state of repose, spreads all its fins, and seems to rest upon its pectoral and ventral fins, near the bottom: if the fish folds up either of its pectoral fins, it inclines to the same side; folding the right pectoral fin, the fish inclines to the right side; folding the left fin, it inclines to that side. When the fish desires to have a retrograde motion, striking with the pectoral fins, in a contrary direction, produces it. If the fish desires to turn, a blow from the tail, sends it about; but if the tail strikes both ways, then the motion is progressive..

10. There is something extremely odd in the experiments of an ingenious man, on some of our common fishes.

“I put a bansticle, says he, in a glass jar filled with water:

At first it refused to eat any thing, which is common with all fishes; but afterward it grew so tame, as to take small worms out of my hand, Nay, it was so hold at last, that when its belly was full, it would set up its prickles, and with all its strength, make a stroke at my fingers, if 1 put them near it.

“ This fish was so unsociable, that it would suffer no other fish to lute in the jar with it, and so audacious as to attack whatever I put -in, .though ten times its own size. One day I put in a small ruff; the bansticle instantly assaulted it, and tore off part of its tail, -and I ‘am persuaded would have killed it, had I not separated them.

“ The abilities they use- to-- get from place to- place, are likewise extraordinary. Though they are scarce two inches long, I have seen them leap out’ of the water a foot high perpendicularly, and much farther obliquely, when they wanted to get over some obstacle in the- way.

“Nature has furnished, them with a kind of breast-plate, to ‘be a defence against outward injury, and with prickles upon their sides -and back, which they erect on the least appearance of danger.’’ .

- “I have always observed among the fish I keep in jars, that such as I keep’ awhile together, contract so great an affection for each other, that if they are separated, they grow melancholy and sullen. About christmas I put two ruffs into a jar, where they lived together till April. I then gave one of them to a friend, the other was So affected, that for three weeks it would eat nothing. Fearing it would pine to death, I sent it to its companion: being put to this, it ate immediately, and presently recovered its former briskness.”

“In the beginning of September,” says the same gentleman, “I procured a small dace, which I kept in a glass jar till the fatter end of May following. All this while it ate nothing except the small animalcules, which happened to be in the water I gave it, once a day in winter, and twice or thrice in the spring, as the weather grew warmer. When the water was fresh, it came up to the top about once an hour, to blow out some small bubbles of air. Then putting its nose near the surface, it took in fresh, and retired to the bottom again. But as the water became less pureby its use, its returns to the surface were more frequent, and at last it would- remain there continually, till I gave it a fresh quantity. I believe I might have kept it for years, but business one day prevented me from giving it clean water in due time, which put a period to the life of my little companion.

“At first it would not suffer me to come nigh the glass, without the utmost confusion and surprise; but at last it grew so tame, that if I came but in sight, it would be sure to be at the same side of the glass; and lie gazing at me, until I was weary of observing it. I often took the opportunity of looking at it by candle-light, which it seemed to take great pleasure in.

"In the above-mentioned month, I put into another glass, a ruff about three inches long. At first he too appeared mighty reserved, and would not eat, nor suffer me to Come nigh him: but ‘in a short time all-powerful hunger tamed him: for he could not, like the dace, live on the small inhabitants, of the water, and so was quickly forced to take whatever I provided for him. In a while it grew so tame, that it would not only eat small worms, which I threw into the glass, but would take them out of my hands. Nay, it would even rise out above the water for them; which is contrary to the way wherein this kind of fish Uses to take its food. At last, it would come to my hand, whenever I put it into the glass, and suffer me to handle it. When I had made all the observations I thought proper, after eight months I gave him his liberty.”

It has long been supposed that all shells, as well as the animals in them, arose wholly from the egg. But it is now found by various experiments, that the shells of snails, and probably of all other animals, are formed of a matter which perspires from their bodies, and then condenses round them.

It is certain all animals perspire and are encompassed with an atmosphere which exhales from them. Snails have nothing peculiar in this respect, unless that their atmosphere condenses and hardens about them, and forms a visible cover for the body, while that of other animals evaporates. This difference may arise from the different substances perspired; that from snails being viscous and stony. This is no supposition, but a matter of fact, proved by numerous experiments.

But the reproduction of the shells of some fish, yea, and of the parts contained therein, is far more strange and unaccountable, than their first production. This is particularly observed in crabs and lobsters. Lobsters cast their shell yearly, some time after midsummer. In the room of the old, a new, thin shell is immediately prepared by nature, which in less than eight days, acquires almost the same degree of hardness as the other.

The legs of a lobster consist of five articulations. When any of these legs break, which frequently happens, the fracture is always near the fourth joint, and what they lose is precisely reproduced in some time after: four joints shooting out, the first whereof has two claws, as before.

If a leg be broken off purposely at the fourth or fifth joint, it is constantly reproduced: but very rarely, if at the first, second, or third joint. What is still more surprising is, that upon visiting the lobster, which is maimed in these barren articulations, at the end of two or three days, all the other joints are found broken off at the fourth, which he has undoubtedly done himself.

The part reproduced is perfectly like that broke off, and in a certain time grows equal to it. Hence it is, that lobsters have often their two big legs unequal. This shews the smaller leg to be a new one. If a part thus reproduced is broken off, there is a second reproduction. The summer, which is the only time when lobsters eat,- is the most favourable time for this. It is then performed in four or five days; otherwise it takes up eight or nine months.

The common crab-fish has its abode in from twenty to forty fathom water. ‘They herd together in distinct tribes, and have their separate haunts for feeding and breeding, and will not associate with their neighbours. This has been tried, by marking a crab, carrying it two or three miles, and leaving it among other crabs. This crab has afterward found its way home, and been caught in its old abode.

This creature too can break off its own limbs. If when it is laid on its back, one of the outer joints of a small leg be bruised, he shews uneasiness by moving it about. Afterward he holds it quite still, in a direct and natural position, without touching any part of the body, or of the other legs with it. Then on a sudden with a gentle crack, the wounded part of the leg drops off. If a hole be pierced in the great leg, the effect will be the same; and the large limb is thrown -off in the same manner, only with greater violence. A mucus then overspreads the wound, which presently stops bleeding; and a small leg is by degrees produced, which gradually attains the size of the former. Nature has given this singular power to these creatures, for the preservation of their lives in their’ frequent quarrels. In these, one crab lays hold of the claw of another, and crushes it in such a manner, that it would bleed to death, had it not the power of giving up the limb, and healing the wound.

However different in figure the lobster and the crab may seem, their manners are nearly the same. Though without any warmth in their bodies, or even red blood, they are wonderfully voracious. Whatever they seize upon that has life, is sure to perish, though never so well defended: they even devour each other; and, to increase our surprise, they may, in some measure, be said to eat themselves, as they change their shell and their stomach every year, and their old stomach is generally the first morsel that serves to glut the new.

What -this animal differs in from all others, is, that the spinal marrow is in the breast bone. It is furnished with two long feelers or horns, that issue on each side of the head, to correct the dimness of its sight, and apprize the animal of its danger or of its prey. The tail is the grand instrument of motion; and with this it can raise itself in the water.

When the young lobsters leave the parent, they seek for refuge in the smallest clefts of rocks, and in crevices at the bottom of the sea. There they grow larger in a few weeks, from the accidental substances which the water washes to their retreats. By this time also they acquire a hard firm shell, which furnishes them with both offensive and defensive armour. They then issue from their fortresses, and creep along the bottom, in hopes of meeting with plunder. The spawn of fish, the smaller animals of their own kind, but chiefly the worms that keep at the bottom of the sea, supply them with plenty. They keep in this manlier close among the rocks, busily employed in scratching up the sand with their claws for worms, or surprising such heedless animals as fall- within their grasp: thus they have little to apprehend, except from each other, for in them, as among-fishes,’ the large are the most formidable of all enemies to the small.

But the body of the lobster still continuing to increase, the animal soon becomes too large for its habitation. In general, all animals change their shell once a year; and this is a most painful operation.’ Their molting season is generally about the beginning of summer: at which time their food is in plenty, and their strength and vigour in the highest perfection. But soon all their activity ceases: they seek some retired situation among the rocks, where they remain in safety from the attacks of their-various enemies. For some days before their change, the animal discontinues its usual voraciousness; it is no longer seen harrowing up the sand at the bottom, or fighting with others of its kind, or hunting its prey: it lies torpid and motionless. Just before casting its shell, it throws itself upon its back, strikes its claws against each other, and every limb seems to tremble; its feelers are agitated, and the whole body is in violent motion. It then swells itself in an unusual manner, and at last the shell begins to divide at it its junctures; particularly at the junctures of the belly, where like a pair of jumps, it was before but seemingly united. It also seems turned inside out; and its stomach comes away with its shell. After this it disengages Itself of the claws, which burst at the joints ; the animal, with a tremulous motion, casting them off, as a man would kick off a boot that was too big for him.

Thus this wonderful creature is at liberty; but so weak that it continues for several hours motionless. Indeed, so violent and painful is the operation, that many of them die under it; and those which survive, for some time, neither take food, nor venture from their retreats. Immediately after this change, they have not only the softness, but the timidity of a worm. Every animal ,of the deep is then a powerful enemy, which they can neither escape, nor oppose; and this is the time when the dog-fish, the cod, and the ray devour them by hundreds. But this state continues for a very short time: in less than two days, the skin that covered its body is grown almost as hard as before

When the lobster is completely equipped in its new shell, it appears how much it has grown in the space of a very few days. The old shell being compared with those of the new, it is increased above a third in its size; and, like a boy that has outgrown his clothes, it seems wonderful how the deserted shell was able to contain so great an animal as entirely fills up the new.

It may be worth observing, that lobsters use their tails as fins, wherewith they commonly swim backward, by jerks or springs, reaching sometimes ten yards at a spring. For this purpose, as the gill-fins of other fishes, which are their oars, are a little concave backward, these have the plates of their tails, when they bend them down as they use to do, a little concave forward.

Different from all these are the land crabs of the Caribbee islands; which live in a kind of orderly society, within their retreats in the mountains; and regularly once a year march down to the sea side in a body of some millions. They choose the months of April and May to begin their expedition: and then sally out from the stumps of hollow trees, from the clefts of rocks, and from the holes which they dig for themselves under the surface of the earth. At that time the whole ground is covered with this band of adventurers. The sea is their place of destination, and to that they direct their march. No geometrician could send them to their destined station, by a shorter course. They never turn to the right or left, whatever obstacles intervene. And even if they meet with a house, they will attempt to scale the walls, to keep the unbroken tenor of their way. But upon some occasions they are compelled to conform to the face of the country; and if it be intersected by rivers, they wind along the course of the stream. They are commonly divided into three battalions; of which, the first consists of the strongest and boldest males, that like pioneers, march forward to clear the route, and face the greatest dangers. These are often oblidged to halt for want of rain, and wait till the weather changes. The main body of the army is composed of females, which never leave the mountains till the rain is set in, and then descend in regular battalia, in columns of fifty paces broad, and three miles deep, and so close, that they almost cover the ground. Three or four days after this, the rear-guard follows:

a straggling undisciplined tribe, consisting of males and females, but neither so robust, nor so numerous as the former. The night is their chief time of proceeding; but if it rains by day, they do not\fail to profit by the occasion; and they continue to move forward in their slow, uniform manner. When the sun shines hot, they make an universal halt, and wait till the cool of the evening. When they are terrified they march back in a disorderly manner, holding up their flippers with which they sometimes tear off a piece of the flesh of an assailant, and leave the weapon where they inflicted the wound. They often clatter their nippers together, as if it were to threaten those that come to disturb them. But though they thus strive to be formidable to man, they are much more so to each other; for if any of them by accident is maimed in such a manner as to be incapable of proceeding, the rest fall upon and devour it on the spot, and then pursue their journey.

When after a fatiguing march, perhaps of three months, they arrive at their destined port, they prepare to cast their spawn.

The peas are as yet within their bodies, and not, as is usual in animals of this kind, under the tail. And the creature waits for the benefit of the sea-water, to help the delivery. For this purpose, the crab has no sooner reached the shore, than it eagerly goes to the edge of the water, and lets the waves wash over its body, two or three times. Then they withdraw to seek a lodging upon land: in the mean time, the spawn grows larger, is excluded out of the body, and sticks to the barbs under the tail. In this state of pregnancy, they once more seek the-shore, and shaking off their spawn into the water, leave it there. At this time whole shoals of hungry fish are in expectation of this annual supply. The sea, to a great distance, is black with them; and about two thirds of the crab’s eggs are immediately devoured. The eggs that escape are hatched under the sand; and soon after, millions at a time of these little crabs are seen quitting the shore, and slowly travelling up to the mountains.

The old ones, however, are not so active to return; they are become so feeble, that they can hardly creep along. Most of them, therefore, are obliged to continue in the fiat parts of the country till they recover, making holes in the earth, which they cover at the mouth with leaves and dirt. There they throw off their old shells. At that time they are quite naked, and almost without motion for six days. They have then under their stomachs four large white stones, which gradually decrease in pro-portion as the shell hardens, and when they come to perfection, are not to be found. It is at that time the animal is seen slowly making its way back, and all this is commonly performed in six weeks.

There is likewise an animal of the lobster-kind, that annually descends from its mountains, not only to produce an offspring, but to provide itself a covering not only to secure a family, but to furnish a house. 1 mean the SOLDIER-CRAB. It is about four inches long, has no shell behind, but is -covered down to the tail with a rough skin, terminating in a point. But what nature has denied this animal, it takes care to supply by art; and taking possession of the deserted shell of some other animal, it resides in it, till, by growing too large for its habitation, it is under the necessity of a change. It is a native of the West India islands, and every year descends from the mountains to the sea-shore, to deposite its spawn, and to provide itself with a new shell. Its first care is to provide for its offspring, and it is thought, from the number of little shells which it is seen examining, that it deposites its spawn in them, which thus is placed in perfect security till the time of exclusion.

It is then mindful of itself. It is still seen in its old shell, which it has considerably outgrown: a part of the naked body is seen at the mouth of it, which the habitation is too small to hide. A shell, therefore, is to be found large enough to cover the whole body; and yet not so large as to be unmanageable. To answer both these ends is no easy matter, nor the attainment of a slight inquiry. The little soldier is seen busily parading the shore, along that line of pebbles and shells that is formed by the waves; still, however, dragging its old habitation at his tail; Unwilling to part with one shell, till it can find another more Convenient. It is seen stopping at one shell, turning it and passing it by, going on to another, contemplating that for awhile, and then slipping its tail from its old habitation, to try on the flew. This also is found to be inconvenient, and it quickly returns to its old shell again. In this manner it frequently changes, till at last it finds one, light, roomy, and commodious. To this it adheres, though the shell be sometimes so large as to hide the body of the animal, claws and all.

Yet it is not till after many trials, and many combats also, that the soldier is thus completely equipped. For there is often a contest between two of them, for some well-looking shell. They both endeavour to take possession: they strike with their claws; they bite each other, till the weakest is obliged to yield. It is then that the victor takes possession, and parades in his new conquest three or four times backward and forward upon the strand, before his envious antagonist.

Crabs’-eyes, so called, are found in the bodies of CRAY-FISH. Each fish produces two yearly, one on each side of the stomach, between the coats of it. Here it grows, coat upon coat, and is supplied with petrifying juices, by vessels opening on the inner surface of the outward coat. The first scale, whereon all the others are formed, may be perceived in the centre; the brims or circumferences of many of the rest being likewise apparent. It is believed, that they cast these stones with their shells yearly; but this is not the case. For about the time of casting their shell, the stones break through the internal coat of the stomach, and being ground by the three serrated teeth therein, become dissolved in the space of a few days, which makes it difficult to find them just at this time.

They cat their old shells immediately after shedding them. Perhaps these stones may be designed to furnish new petrescent juices to its fluids, for the reproduction of their annual dress.

As to turbinated shell-fish, of the SNAIL-KIND we may first observe the SNAIL itself. This is surprisingly fitted for the life it is to lead. It has the organs of life in a manner almost as complete as the largest animal; a tongue, brain, salival ducts, glands, nerves, stomach, and intestines; liver, heart, and blood-vessels: besides this, it has a purple bag that furnishes a red matter to different parts of the body, together with strong muscles, that hold it to the shell, and which are hardened like tendons at their insertion.

But these it possesses in common with other animals. We must now see what it has peculiar to itself. The first striking peculiarity is, it has got its eyes on the points of its largest horns. When the snail is in motion, four horns are seen distinctly; but the two longest deserve peculiar consideration, both on account of the various motions with which they are endued, and of their having eyes at the extreme ends of them. These appear like two blackish points. The animal can direct them to different objects at pleasure, by a regular motion out of the body; and sometimes it hides them by a very swift contraction into the belly. Under the small horns is the animal’s mouth; and though it may appear too soft a substance to be furnished with teeth, yet it has no less than eight of them, with which it devours leaves, and other substances seemingly harder than itself.

It may seem whimsical to make a distinction between the animal perfections of turbinated and bivalved shell-fish, or to grant a degree of superiority to the SNAIL above the OYSTER. Yet this distinction apparently obtains in nature; and we shall find the bivalved tribe of animals in every respect inferior to the other. Inferior in all their sensations; inferior in all their motions; but peculiarly inferior in their system of animal generation. The snail tribe are hermaphrodite; but require the assistance of each other for fecundation; all the bivalve tribe are hermaphrodite in like manner, but they require no assistance from each other towards impregnation; and a single muscle or oyster, if there were no other in the world, would quickly replenish the ocean.

The multitude of muscles is in some places very great; but from their defenceless state, the number of their destroyers are in equal proportion. The crab, the cray-fish, and many other animals, are seen to devour them; but the tochus is their most formidable enemy. When their shells are found deserted, if we then observe closely, it is most probable we shall find that the tochus has been at work in piercing them. There is scarce one of them without a hole in it; and this probably was the avenue by which the enemy entered to destroy the inhabitant.

But notwithstanding the number of this creature’s animated enemies, it seems still more fearful of the agitations of the element in which it resides; for, if dashed against rocks, or thrown far on the beach, it is destroyed without a power of redress. In order to guard against these, which are to this animal the commonest and the most fatal accidents, although it has a power of slow motion, which I shall presently describe, yet it endeavours to become stationary, and to attach itself to any fixed object it happens to be near. For this purpose it is furnished with a very singular capacity of binding itself by a number of threads to whatever object it approaches; and these, Reauxnur supposes, it spins artificially, as spiders their webs, which they fasten against a wall. Be this as it will, nothing is more certain than that the muscle is found attached by these threads to every fixed object; sometimes, indeed, for want of such an object, these animals are found united to each other, and though thrown into a lake separately, they are taken out in bunches of many together.

To have some fixed resting place, where the muscle can Continue, and take in its accidental food, seems the state that this animal chiefly desires. Its instrument of motion, by which it contrives to reach the object it wants to bind itself to, is that muscular substance resembling a tongue, which is found long in proportion to the size of the muscle. This the animal has a power of thrusting out of its shell; and with this it is capable of making a slit in the sand at the bottom. By means of this furrow it can erect itself upon the edge of its shell-: and thus continuing to make the furrow, in proportion as it goes forward, it reaches out its tongue, that answers the purpose of an arm, and thus carries its shell edge-ways, as in a groove, until it reaches the point intended. Then, where it determines to take up its residence, it fixes the ends of its beard, which are glutinous, to the rock, or the object, whatever it be; and thus like a ship at anchor, braves all the agitations of the waters. Sometimes the animal is attached by a large number of threads; sometimes but by three or four, that seem scarce able to retain it. When the muscle is fixed in this manner, it lives upon the little earthy particles that the water transports to its shells, and perhaps the flesh of the most diminutive animals. However, it does not fail to grow considerably; and some of this kind have been found a foot long. I have seen the beards of a foot and a half; and of this substance the natives of Palermo make gloves and stockings.

Oysters usually cast their spawn in May, which at first appear like drops of candle grease, and stick to any hard substance they fall upon. These are covered with a shell in two or three days, and in three years the animal is large enough to be brought to the market.

The SCALLOP is particularly remarkable for its method of moving forward upon land, or swimming upon the water. When it finds itself deserted by the tide, it moves towards the sea in a most singular manner. It first gapes with its shell as widely as it can, the edges being often an inch asunder: then it shuts them with a jerk, and by this the whole animal rises five or six inches from the ground. It thus tumbles any how forward, and renews the operation until it has attained its journey’s end. When in the water it is capable of supporting itself on the surface; and there opening and shutting its shells, it tumbles over and over, and makes its way with some celerity.

The RAZOR-SHELL has a very different kind of motion. As the former moves laboriously forward, so the razor-shell has only a power of Sinking downward. The shafts of this animal resemble nothing so much as the shaft of a razor; and by this form it is enabled to dive into the soft sand. All its motions are confined to sinking or rising a foot downwards or upwards in the sand, for it never leaves the spot where first it was planted. From time to time it raises about halfway out of its hole.: but if any way disturbed sinks perpendicularly down again. Just over the place where the razor buries itself; there is a small hole like a chimney, through which the animal breathes or imbibes the sea-water. Upon the desertion of the tide, these holes are easily distinguished by the fishermen; and their method of enticing the razor up is by sprinkling a little sea-salt upon the hole. This melting,- no sooner reaches the razor below, than it rises instantly, and shews above half its length above the surface. This appearance is instantaneous; and if the fisher does not seize the opportunity; the razor buries itself to its former depth. There it continues secure; no salt can allure it a second time; but it remains unmolested unless the fisher will be at the trouble of-digging it out, sometimes two feet below the surface.

Multivalve SHELL-FISH may be considered as animals shut up in round boxes. To view their habitations externally, one would be little apt to consider them as the retreats of living creatures; and still less, to suppose that some of them carry their boxes with a tolerable share of swiftness, so as to escape their pursuers. Of these there are principally two kinds; such as move, and such as are stationary: the first are usually known in our cabinets by the name of sea-eggs; the others are often admired for the cavities which they scoop out for their habitation in the hardest marble. The first are called, by naturalists, echini, or urchins: the latter are called pholades, or file-fish. Of both these are several sorts; but by describing these two, we shall have a competent idea of all the rest.

To a slight view, the sea-urchin may be compared to the husk of a chesnut; being like it, round, and with a number of bony prickles standing out on every side. If we could conceive a turnip stuck full of pins on every side, and running upon these pins with some degree of swiftness, -we should have sonic idea of this extraordinary creature. The month is placed downwards; the vent is above; the shell is a hollow vase, resembling a scooped apple; and this filled with a soft muscular substance, through which the intestines wind from the bottom to the top. The mouth, which is placed undermost, is large and red, furnished with fine-sharp teeth, which are easily discerned. The jaws are strengthened by fine small bones, in the centre of which is a small fleshy tongue; and from this the intestines make a winding of five spires, round the internal sides of the shell, ending at the top, where the excrements are excluded. But what makes the most extraordinary part of this animal’s conformation, are its horns, and its spines, that point from every part of the body, like the horns of a snail, and that serve at once as legs to move upon, as arms to feel with, and as instruments of capture and defence. Between their horns it has also spines that are not endued with such a share of motion. The spines and the horns issue from every part of the body, the spines being hard and prickly, the horns being softer, longer than the spines, and never seen except in the water. They are put forward and withdrawn like the horns of a snail, and are hid at the base of the spine, serving, as was said before, for procuring food and motion. All this apparatus, however, is only seen when the animal is hunting his prey at the bottom of the water; for a few minutes after it is taken, all the horns are withdrawn into the body, and most of the spines drop off.

It is generally said of insects, that those which have the greatest number of legs, always move the slowest; but this animal seems to be an exception to the rule; for though furnished with two thousand spines, and twelve hundred horns, all serving for legs, and which from their number seem to impede each other’s motion, yet it runs with some share of swiftness at the bottom, and it is sometimes no easy matter to overtake it.

Very different in motion, though not, much different in shape from them, are the acorn shell-fish, the thumb-footed shell-fish, and the imaginary barnacle. These are fixed to one spot, and appear to vegetate from a stalk. Indeed, to an inattentive spectator, each actually seems to be a kind of fungus that grows in the deep, destitute of animal life, as well as motion. But the inquirer will soon change his opinion, when he comes to observe this mushroom-like figure more minutely. He will then see that the animal residing within the shell, has not only life, but some degree of voraciousness; that it has a cover, by which it opens and shuts its shell at pleasure; that it has twelve large crooked arms, furnished with hair, which it thrusts forth for its prey; and eight smaller, which are generally kept in the shell. They are seen adhering to every substance that is to be met with in the ocean; rocks, roots of trees, ship’s bottoms, whales, lobsters, and even crabs; like bunches of grapes clung to each other. It is amusing enough to behold their operations. They for some time remain motionless within their shell; but when the sea is calm, they are seen opening the lid, and peeping about them. They then thrust out their long neck, look round them for some time, and then abruptly retreat back into their box, shut the lid, and lurk in darkness and security.

Among the shell-fish on the Waterford coast, is the MUREX, which gave the Tyrian purple. It is in great plenty there, and is by the English called a horse-winkle. The shell is about an inch long, and half an inch broad, and turns spirally like a snail’s shell. Each fish has a peculiar reservoir, which contains a large drop of liquor: if this is pressed out on linen, the linen first appears of a dirty yellow, inclining to green; afterward it changes to a lemon colour, then to a deep green; then it turns to a deep blue, and at last to a charming purple.

The shells of the ancient purple-fish, are still common on the Tyrian shore. The fish itself is found in, great abundance in the seas of the Spanish West Indies, near Panama and Nicoya, exactly agreeing with Pliny’s account of the ancient Murex. Cloth of Segovia, died with-this purple, is sold for twenty crowns an eli, and is very rarely worn by any, but the greatest noblemen in ‘Spain. The Caribbee islands have also the same sort of fish, which we may likewise find nearer home, namely on the coasts of Somersetshire, as well as of South Wales.

The PEARL MUSCLES lie partly open: the inside of the shell is of a pearly colour. The pearl lies in the - smaller end of it, at the extremity of the gut, and out of the body of the fish, between the two films that line the shell. This answers to the stone in the other animals, increasing by crusts growing over one another. Accordingly if a pearl be pinched in a vice, the upper coat will crack and leap away. And as it is now known, that the shells of fishes are formed of stony matter oozing out of their body, it is no wonder if that matter when it chances to overflow, bursts forth in any cavity of the body, and forms a little mass, which hardening, becomes a pearl of the same colour with the shell.

Whereas all other animals take in nutriment by the mouth, the muscle takes it in by the anus. The part called the head, though without eyes, ears, or tongue, is immoveably fastened to one of the shells so that it cannot receive any thing. The food of a muscle is water, which, as the shell opens, enters in at the anus, and passing on by certain canals, running between the shell and the animal, is thence conveyed into the mouth.

We have lately discovered a progressive motion in those shellfish, which were supposed to be quite fixed. Even OYSTERS, which one would think wholly immoveable, if they are thrown irregularly into a vessel of water, will in a while turn themselves till the smooth shell becomes uppermost: otherwise they could hold no water in the concave shell for their sustenance.

Muscles can walk on the ground, which they do in this manner: lying on the flat side of their shell, they thrust out a part, in form of a tongue, wherewith they make little motions to the right and left, and thereby dig a passage in the sand. In this digging they drop gradually on one side, and so get the shell mounted on its edge; then they stretch out the tongue as far as they can, and rest for a minute or two on its extremity to draw the shell after them, as water snails do. This motion is repeated as long as they please; thus they form a sort of groove in the sand, which sustains the shell on either side, and leaves behind them a sort of irregular tract, three or four yards long. In rivers abounding with muscles one may see many of them, with a muscle at the end of each.

That called the arm or a leg in a sea-muscle, which in its natural state is not above two lines long, may reach out of the shell two inches: and the muscle having laid hold on a fixed point therewith, bends and shortens it and so drags itself on. The beard serves for an anchor to fasten to some heavy body, that it may not be carried away with the motion of the waves.

‘When a pond muscle walks, it thrusts out its whole belly, in form of the keel of a ship, and creeps on the belly as the serpent does. So true it is, that nature is not confined in her manner of operation, hut is ever varying, though never confused.

In Port Mahon harbour, there are stones from half a hundred to five hundred weight each, lying at all depths, full of shells, each containing a single fish, of the muscle kind. The holes in the surface are far narrower than the hole in which the fish is, which it seems is capable of enlarging its room as it grows bigger, by abrading the sides of its cells. And this is apparent, from the sandy matter found in the bottom of those cells, whenever the orifice is higher than the bottom; for then the fish cannot throw it out.

The BOLLANI likewise in the Adriatic sea, live in large stones. Their shell is rough and oblong, not unlike a date. They are found in several kinds of porous stones. In the pores of these the spawn is deposited. Frequently the aperture, through which it Was injected, is no longer perceivable; but the fish thrives notwithstanding. On breaking some of these stones, one finds near thirty give fish, though no opening can be perceived on the outside. Each has just room to open its shell, the inside of which is white, the outside ash colour; the largest is four or five inches long. Both the fish itself and its juices are so luminous, One ma see to read by it; and even water, in which it has been squeezed, put into a glass, will shine ten or twelve hours.

Likewise in Toulon harbour are found solid stones, containing, in separate cells, secluded from all communication with the air, several living shell fish. The same are found along the- coast of Alcona, in stones weighing fifty pounds and upwards. The outside of which is soft, but the inside so hard as to require an iron snail, and a strong arm to break them.

PHOLADES BOLLANI, when divested of their shells, resemble a roundish, soft pudding, with no instrument that seems in the least fitted for boring into stones, or even penetrating the softest substance. A pholas is furnished with two teeth indeed; but these are placed in such a situation as to be incapable of touching the hollow surface of its stony dwelling. It has also two covers to its shell that open or shut at either end; but these are totally unserviceable to it as a miner. The instrument with which it performs all its operations, and buries itself in the hardestrocks, is only a broad fleshy substance, somewhat resembling a tongue, that is seen issuing from the bottom of its shell. With this soft yielding instrument, it perforates the most - solid marbles; and having, while little and young, made its way, by a very narrow passage into the substance of the stone, it then begins to grow bigger, and thus th enlarge its apartment. While yet naked and very small, it has effected an entrance, and has buried its body in the stone: it there continues for life at its ease; the sea water, that enters at its apertures, supplying it with luxurious plenty. When the animal has taken too great a quantity of water, it is seen to spurt it out of its hole- with some violence. Upon this seemingly thin diet, it quickly grows larger, and soon finds itself under a necessity of enlarging its habitation and its shell. The motion of the pholas is slow beyond conception; its progress keeps pace with the growth of its body; and in proportion as it grows larger, it makes its way farther into the rock. When it has got a certain way in, it then turns from a certain direction, and hollows downward; till at last, when its habitation is completed, the whole apartment resembles the bowl of a tobacco pipe; the hole is the shank, being that by which the animal entered.

Thus immured, the pholas lives in darkness, indolence and plenty; it never removes from the narrow mansion into which it has penetrated; and seems perfectly content with being enclosed in its own sepulchre. The influx of the sea water, that enters by its little gallery, satisfies all its wants; and without any other food, it is found to grow from seven to eight inches long, and thick in proportion.

Yet the pholas, thus shut up, is not so solitary an animal as it would at first appear; for though it is immured in its hole without egress; though it is impossible for the animal, grown to a great size, to get out by the way it made in, yet many of this kind meet in the heart of the rock, and, like miners in a siege, who sometimes cross each other’s galleries, they frequently break in upon each other’s retreats: whether their thus meeting be the work of accident or of choice, few can take upon them to determine; certain it is they are most commonly found in numbers in the same rock; and sometimes above twenty are discovered within a few inches of each other.

As to the nest, this animal is found in greatest numbers at Ancona in Italy; it is found along the shores of Normandy and Poitou, in France; it is found also upon some of the coasts of Scotland, and in general is considered as a very great delicacy at the tables of the luxurious.

One of the most extraordinary kinds of shell-fish is the ANIMAL-FLOWER, In Barbadoes. In the parish of St. Lucy, on the north side of the island, there is a high rocky cliff fronting the sea, near the bottom-of which is a large cave. This opens into another cave, the bottom of which is a bason of water. In the midst of this bason is a rock, always covered with water: on the sides of which, a few inches below the water, are seen, at all times of the year, issuing out of little holes, what have the appearance of finely radiated flowers; in size, colour and shape greatly resembling a common marygold.

If you attempt to pluck one of these, as soon as your fingers come within two or three inches of it, it contracts, closes up its border and shrinks back into the hole of the rock. But if left undisturbed for a few minutes, it issues again,- and soon appears in full bloom. This might induce one to believe, that it was no other than an aquatic sensitive plant.

But on a nearer inspection we may discern four dark coloured filaments, rising from the centre, moving with a quick and spontaneous motion, and frequently closing, to seize its prey, much like the claws of a lobster. So that the seeming flower is really an animal; and its body, which appeared to be the stalk of the flower, is black, about as big as a raven’s quill.

It seems the vivid yellow colour of its feelers, is absolutely necessary to procure its food. The water in the cave, having no motion, cannot bring any food to them. Therefore the Creator has endued this creature with a quality which may allure its prey. For bright colours invite many aquatic animals, as the flame of a candle does flies.

12. As to the generation of fishes, some of them are viviparous, others oviparous. The womb and ovaries of most fishes, are not unlike those of birds. The female casts out innumerable eggs, in the sea, in lakes, and in rivers. Great part of these are devoured by the males. The rest are hatched by the warmth of the sun, and the young ones immediately swim away, without any help from the parent.

Sea-tortoises lay their eggs on the sea-shore, and cover them with the sand. It is not uncommon to see a great number of young tortoises rise out of the sand, and without any guide or instructions, march with a gentle pace toward the water. But the waves usually throw them back upon the shore, and then the birds destroy the most of them. So that out of two or three hundred of them it is seldom that ten escape.

It seems at first view, that nature, in this instance, charges herself with unnecessary expense. But a little reflection shews the contrary. We do not complain of the fertility of a hen, which frequently lays above two hundred eggs in one year: although it may be, that not one chick is hatched out of all these. The design of the Author of nature is plain: not barely to preserve the species, but at the same time, to provide man and other animals with an excellent food. So his intention in the fertility of a tortoise, is not barely to continue that species, but to accommodate a number of other animals with food convenient for them,

But whence could arise the common opinion concerning the generation of SOLES Namely, that they are produced from a kind of shrimps or prawns A French gentleman, being deter-mined to try, put a large quantity of prawns into a tub about three feet wide filled with sea water. At. the end of twelve or thirteen days, he saw there eight or ten little soles, which grew by degrees. He repeated- the experiment several times, and always found little soles. Afterwards he put some soles and prawns together, in one tub, arid in another, soles alone. In both, the soles spawned; but there were no little soles, only in the tub where the prawns were.

But how can prawns be of use toward producing soles Farther observations cleared up this. When shrimps or prawns are just taken out of the sea, you may discern between their feet many little bladders, which are strongly fastened to their stomach, by a kind of glue. If you open these bladders gently, you see a sort of embryos, which, viewed with a microscope, have all the appearance of soles.

Now here lies the mystery. These are the eggs or spawn of soles, which in order to hatch, are fastened to the shrimps or prawns: like many plants and animals, which do not grow or receive nourishment, but upon other plants and animals. The prawns therefore are the foster-mothers of soles, during their first infancy. And this has occasioned many to imagine they were their real mothers.

The coming of certain kinds of fish in-shoals to certain coasts, at a certain time of the year, is of great advantage to mankind. But the reason of it has been little understood. Yet observation may clear it up. There is a small insect common in many seas, particularly on the coast of Normandy, in June, July, and August. They then cover the whole surface of the water as a scum. And this is the season when the herrings come also in such prodigious quantities. The fishermen destroy much of these vermin; yet to these alone their fisheries are owing. For it is evident the herrings feed on these by the quantities found in all their stomachs. And doubtless, the very reason of their coming is to feed upon them. Probably the case is the same in all other places, where the herrings come in the same plenty.

The numberless swarms of herrings, cod, and other fish, that come forth yearly from their shelter, under the ice adjoining the north pole, divide themselves into three bodies. One part direct their course southward, toward the British islands; another part westward, toward Newfoundland, and other places in North- America: and the third part along the coast of Norway, and then through the Sound into the Baltic.

The water, though quite still before, curls up in waves wherever they come. They crowd together in such numbers, that they may be taken up by pailfulls.

A large shoal of herrings, reaches (according to the fishermen’s account) a hundred or two hundred fathoms deep. They -extend also to a considerable circumference. Were they all to be caught, the greatest part would be lost. For it would be impossible to get hands, tubs, salt, and other necessaries to cure them. Several hundred ship-loads are sent every year from Bergen alone to foreign parts: besides the quantities that the peasants at home Consume, who make them their daily provision.

The fishers, on the western isles of Scotland, observe, that there is a large herring, double the size of a common one, which leads all that are in the bay, the shoal following him wherever he goes. This leader they term the king of herrings: and when they chance to catch it alive, they drop it carefully into the sea, judging it petty treason to destroy a fish of that name.

Mackerels come in the same numbers at certain times of the year; and for the same reason. They are particularly fond of a sea plant, the narrow leaved, purple sea-wick, which abounds on the coasts of England; and is in its greatest perfection in the beginning of summer: though at some-times later than other, according to the severity or mildness of the winter.

The chief occasion of their coming is to feed on this plant. And those who attend to its growing up, would know when to expect the- mackerel, better than those who listen for thunder.

But this is not the sole occasion of their coming. The real truth is this. The sea near the pole is the native country of all fish of passage. The ice which continually covers that sea, affords them a safe retreat. Large, voracious fish, want a free air for perspiration, and cannot pursue the smaller sort into their sanctuaries, where they multiply so prodigiously, that at length, for want of subsistence, they are forced to quit their retreat. The large fish wait for them at the extremity of the ice. They devour all they can catch, drive them close into the coasts, while the birds of prey pour down upon them from all quarters. In consequence of this persecution their march is always in columns, which are commonly as thick as they are broad. With regard to the herrings, they quit the ice in the beginning of the year. But the prodigious column which they form soon divides into two wings. The right moves westward, so as to be- near Iceland in the month of March. The left bends its-course easterly, and comes down the north sea to a certain latitude, where it divides into two other wings, the eastern-most of which coasts along Norway. Hence it sends off one division, by the strait of the Sound, into the Baltic, another towards the country of Holstein, Bremen, &c. and thence into the Zuderzce. The western wing, which is the largest, falls directly upon the isles of Shetland and the Orkneys. And thither the Dutch go to wait their coming. All that escape these dexterous fishers, go on to Scotland, and, dividing again into two columns, one passes to the east of that kingdom, and goes round England, detaching numerous divisions to the coasts of Friesland, Holland, Zealand, Flanders, and France, while the other moves to the westward of Scotland and Ireland. The remains of the whole western wing, which have escaped the nets of the fishers, and the voracity--of other fish and fowl, having at length rallied, in. the channel, the column is formed anew, and then issues into the ocean: from which (without shewing itself again on the coast) it regains, like the remains of the first western wing, which had not travelled so far, the polar ice, at the approach of winters And under the protection of this,, the loss is repaired, which the species had suffered since they left it.

Thus ‘does the divine wisdom supply many thousands of men with food, as well as numberless other animals; and yet prevent any ‘decay of that necessary provision, which is continually consumed and as constantly recruited.

The TUNNIES come in equal shoals at certain seasons, to the coasts of Provence and Languedoc. The fish called by the French, the Emperor, is the great enemy of these fish. He is in summer so plentiful in those seas, that they cannot escape him but by flying to the shallow waters.

The PLICHARDS catched on the coast of Britanny, are still a stronger proof of the natural means that bring fish in shoals to certain places. The people of Britanny purchase from Norway, the offals and entrails of all the large fish caught there. These they cut in pieces, and strew in vast quantities on the sea along the coasts. This always brings thither shoals of pilchards, enough to supply all the maritime places in the neigbourhood.

The SALMON (bred both in the sea, and in rivers) is another fish, which comes in shoals at certain times. But this is on another occasion. The female salmon chiefly ejects her roe at the mouth of rivers, in shallow water. The male comes presently after, keeps other fish from devouring it, and casts his sperm upon the roe. They are in great plenty from the middle of April till the middle of July; at which time also, they come in shoals into the rivers, partly to refresh themselves in fresh water, arid partly to rub or wash off in the strong currents, a greenish vermin called salmon lice: insects, wisely designed by the Creator, to drive this rich and valuable fish into the hands of men.

The salmon, when they are going up the rivers out of the sea, always swim as near the bottom as they can. And on the contrary, when they are going down them into the sea, they always swim near the surface. The reason is, in going up, they swim against the current, which always runs swiftest at the surface. When they are going down on the surface, the current alone is sufficient to carry them.

At Leixlip, seven miles from Dublin, there is a fine water-fall, or salmon-leap, so called from the numberless salmon which leap up it, at the season of the year for spawning. When they come to the foot of the fall, you may observe them frequently to leap up just above the water, as if to snake an observation of the distance. Soon after they leap up again, with an attempt to gain the top, and perhaps rise near it: but the falling water drives them down again. The same fish soon springs up again, and rises above the fall: yet this is equally unsuccessful, for dropping with their broadsides on the rapid curvature on the waters, they are thrown back again headlong. The only method of succeeding in their attempt, is to dart their heads into the water, in its first curvature over the rocks. By this means they first make a lodgment on the top of the rock ‘for a few moments, and then scud up the stream. There seems’ to be a peculiar instinct in them, to aim at this very point; for the force of the stream on the top of the precipice, is less at the bottom, close to the rock than on the surface. It is almost incredible, the height to which they will leap; they frequently leap near twenty feet. The manner of their doing it is, by bending their tails round, almost to their heads; it is then by the strong re-action of their tails against the water, that they spring so much above it.

1 3. One particular instance of the Divine care, is observable in the TURBOT. He is not well able to swim, especially in stormy weather. He must then keep at the bottom, and stick in the sand. And for that reason, he is provided with a skin or membrane which draws over his eyes, to keep the sand out of them.

WHALES are as many degrees raised above other fishes in their nature, as they are in their size. They resemble beasts in their internal structure, and in some of their appetites and affections. They have lungs, a midriff, a stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, bladder, and parts of generation like beasts. Their heart also resembles that of beasts, driving red and warm blood in circulation through the body.

As these animals breathe the air, they cannot bear to be long under water. They are constrained, every two or three minutes, to come up to the surface to take breath, as well as to spout out through their nostril (for they have but one) the water which they sucked in while gaping for their prey.

The senses of these animals seem also superior to those of other fishes. The eyes of other fishes are covered only with that transparent skin that covers the rest of the head: but in all the cataceous kinds, they are covered by eye-lids as in man; This keeps that organ in a more perfect state, by giving it intervals of relaxation. The other fishes, that are very staring, must see, if for ho other reason, more feebly, as their organs of sight are always exerted.

As for hearing, they are furnished with the internal instruments of the ear, although the external orifice no where appears. It is probable, this orifice may open by Some canal into the mouth; but this has not as yet been discovered it is likely, that all animals of the kind can hear, as they certainly utter sounds to each other. This vocal Power would be as needless to animals naturally deaf, as glasses to a man that was blind.

But it is in the circumstances in which they continue their kind, that these-animals shew an eminent superiority. Other fish deposit their spawn, and leave the success to accident; these never produce above one young, or two at the most; and this the female’ suckles entirely in the manner of quadrupeds, her breasts, being placed as in the human kind.

in fishes of the whale-kind, the tail has a different position from what it has in all other fishes. For, whereas, in these it is erected perpendicular to the horizon; in them, it lies parallel thereto; partly to supply the use of the hinder pair of fins, which these creatures have not, and partly that they may be able to raise or depress their body at pleasure. For it being necessary they should frequently come to the top of the water, to take in, or -let out the air, they are provided with an organ to facilitate their ascent and descent as they have occasion. And, as for turning their bodies in the water, they perform that as birds do; by strongly moving one of their fins, while the other is quiescent.

The Norway whale is frequently sixty or seventy feet long. His shape pretty much resembles that of a cod; he has a large head, and small eyes in proportion. On the top of the head are two openings, through which he spouts out the water (which he takes in as he breathes) like a large fountain, which makes a violent noise.

His skin is smooth and not very thick. The colour of his back is dark and marbled. His belly is white. His throat is very narrow, in proportion to his size. Under his backbone lies a long bladder, which he dilates or contracts as he pleases. He rows himself with his tail. They copulate after the manner of land animals.

The female brings forth but one or two at a birth, at which time they are nine or ten feet long. They suck for some time: when they are tired with swimming, she carries them between her great fins. Under the skin lies the blubber or fat. Its usual thickness is about six inches: but about the under lip it is found two or three feet thick. Out of this the oil is extracted. One-whale ordinarily yields forty or fifty, sometimes eighty or ninety hundred weight.

The use of blubber seems to be partly to poise the body and make it equiponderant to the water; partly to keep the water at a distance from the blood, lest it should be chilled by its immediate contact; and partly to keep the fish warm, by reflecting ‘the hot steams of the body, and so redoubling the heat.

Under the fat the flesh is of a reddish colour. Their general food is certain small insects, which float upon the water in great heaps, and are no larger than flies. But they likewise eat various sorts of small fish, particularly herrings, which they drive together in large shoals, and then swallow vast quantities at a time. The whale commonly goes under the shoal; then opens his mouth and sucks in all he can. Sometimes lie swallows so many, that he is ready to burst, and sets up a hideous roar.

But he is far more troubled by a slender fish about four feet long, which tears great pieces of flesh out of him. The whale then not only makes a frightful noise, but often leaps a considerable height. In these leaps he sometimes raises himself perpendicular above the surface of the water, and then plunges himself down with such violence, that if his head strikes any of the hidden rocks that are in the shallows, he fractures his skull, and comes instantly floating up dead. So that there is no creature in the world so great or strong so as to be exempt from calamities !

The whalebone whale is about seventy feet long, and very bulky, having scales, and no fins, but only one on each side, from five to eight feet long.

The spermaceti whale is much of the same dimensions. The spermaceti oil lies in a great trunk, four or five feet deep, and. ten or twelve feet long, near the whole length, breadth and depth of the head. It seems to be no other than the brain. Not but some other parts of the fish yield an oil, but not so good as that in the trunk. The care of their young is remarkable: while they carry them under water, they often rise for the benefit of the air. Whenever they are chased or wounded, as long as they have sense, and perceive life in their young, they will not leave them, and if in their flying the young one drops off, the dam comes about, and passing underneath takes it again.

Whales are gregarious, being sometimes found a hundred in a swarm, and are great travellers. In autumn the whalebone whales go westward: in spring eastward again. The several kind of whales do not mix with each other, but each keep by themselves.

Their wonderful strength lies chiefly in the tail. A boat has been cut down from the top to the bottom by the tail of a whale, and the clap-boards entirely splintered, though the gunnel on the top was of tough wood. Another has had the stern post, three inches thick, cut off smooth without so much as shattering the boat, or drawing the nails of the boards.

It is commonly supposed, that all fishes are mute, as well as void of hearing. But a late author says, there is one kind of whale, that when they are struck, roar so loud as to he heard two miles. He likewise asserts, that some of them have hearing, as have frogs, snakes and all ‘the lizard kind, though they have not the usual outward apparatus of hearing, But they have the auditory passage, by which sound is conveyed, and internal organs, to which the meatus auditorious reaches This is observable in all the whale kind, and in all fishes that have lungs. And whereas, some have supposed, that water cannot transmit sound, the contrary of this is now well known. -Many experiments have shewn, that even a man under water may hear what is spoken in the open air.

The HIPPOPOTAMOS, or river horse, is above seventeen feet long from the snout, to the insertion of the tail; above seven feet in circumference -round the body, and above seven feet high: the head is near four feet long, and above nine feet in circumference. The jaws open about two feet wide, and the cutting teeth, of-which’ It hath four in each jaw, are above a foot long. its feet- resemble those of the elephant, and are divided into four parts. The tail is short, flat and pointed; the hide is impenetrable to the blow of a sabre; the body is covered over with a few scattered hairs of a whitish colour. The figure of the animal is between that of an ox and a hog, and its cry between the bellowing of the one, and the grunting of the other.

It chiefly resides at the bottom of the great rivers and lakes of Africa; the Nile, the Niger, and the Zara; there it leads an indolent life,- seldom disposed for action, except when excited by the calls of hunger. Upon such occasions, three or four of them are often seen at the bottom of a river, forming a kind of line, and seizing upon such fish as are forced down by the violence of the stream. In that element they pursue their prey with great swiftness and perseverance; they swim with much force, anti remain at the bottom for thirty or forty minutes without rising to take breath. T hey traverse the bottom of the stream, as if walking upon land. But it often happens, that its fishy food is not supplied in sufficient abundance; it is then forced to come upon land, where it is an aukward and unwieldly stranger; it moves but slowly, yet it commits dreadful havock among the plantations of the helpless natives, who see their possessions destroyed, without daring to resist their invader. Their chief method -is, by lighting fires, striking drums, and raising a cry to frighten it back to its favourite element. But if they happen to wound it, it then becomes formidable to all that oppose it: overturning whatever it meets. It possesses the same inoffensive disposition in its favourite element, that it is found to have upon land; it never attacks the mariners in their boats, as they go up or down the stream; but should they inadvertently strike against it, there is much danger of its sending them, at once, to the bottom: “I have seen, says a mariner, one of these animals open its jaws, -and seizing a boat between his teeth, at once, bite and sink it to the bottom. I have seen it upon another occasion, place itself under one of our boats, and rising under it, overset it with six men which were in it; who, however, happily received no other injury.” Such is the great strength of this animal: and from hence, probably, the imagination has been willing to match it in combat against others more fierce and equally formidable. The crocodile and shark have been said to engage with it, and yield an easy victory; but as the shark is only found at sea, and the hippopotamos never ventures beyond the mouth of fresh water rivers, it is most probable that these engagements never occurred; it sometimes happens, indeed, that the princes of Africa, amuse themselves with combats, on their fresh water lakes, between this and other formidable animals; but whether-the rhinoceros or the- crocodile are of this number, we have not been particularly informed. If this animal be attacked at land and finds itself incapable of vengeance, from the swiftness of its enemy, it immediately returns to the river, where it plunges in head foremost, and after a short time rises to the surface, loudly bellowing, either to invite or intimidate the enemy; but though the negroes will venture to attack the shark, or the crocodile, in their natural element, and there destroy them, they are too welt apprized of the force of the hippopotamos to engage it; this animal, therefore, continues the uncontrolled master of the river, and all others fly from its approach or become-an easy prey.

As the hippopotamus lives upon fish and vegetables, so it is probable the flesh of terrestrial animals may be equally grateful: the natives of Africa assert, that it has often been found to devour children and other creatures that it was able to surprise upon land; yet as it moves but slowly, almost every creature, endued with a common share of swiftness, is able to -escape it; and this animal, therefore, seldom ventures from the river side, but when pressed by the necessities of hunger, or of bringing forth its young.

The female always comes: upon land to bring forth, and it is supposed that she seldom produces above one at a time; upon this occasion, these animals are particularly timorous, and dread the approach of a terrestrial enemy; the instant the parent hears the slightest noise, it dashes into the stream, and the young one is seen to follow it with equal alacrity.

The young ones are said to be excellent eating; but the negroes, to whom nothing that has life comes amiss, find an equal delicacy in the old. Dr. Pocock has seen their flesh sold in the shambles like beef; and it is said, that their breast in particular, is as delicate eating as veal. As for the rest, these animals are found in great numbers, and as they produce very fast, their flesh might supply the countries where they are found, could those barbarous regions produce more expert huntsmen. But this ‘creature, which once was in such plenty at the mouth of the Nile, is now wholly unknown in Lower Egypt, and is no where to be found in that river, except above the cataracts.

One can hardly tell whether to rank him among land or water animals. ‘He sleeps on land, but passes almost all the rest of his time under water. He has to feed under water, yet is the most unwieldy of all creatures, and cannot swim at all. He comes out of the water in an evening to sleep: and when he goes in again he walks very deliberately in overhead and pursues his course along the bottom, as easy and unconcerned as if it were the Open air. The rivers he most frequents are very deep, and where they are clear, this affords an astonishing sight.

An animal of this size and make, must be one of the strongest in the world. It therefore requires from nature no swiftness, either to avoid pursuit, or to overtake its prey, as it was designed to feed chiefly on vegetables. The manner of its feeding on them is this: ‘When he walks into the river, he seldom looks about till he is near the middle. Here he seeks for the larger water-herbs, particularly for the root of a large water-lilly. People from a a boat on the surface, frequently see this. He roots tip these with his nose, like a hog, and his mouth and throat being very wide, swallows them up in vast morsels half chewed.

But he has frequently occasion to breath: in order to which, when feeding at his ease, his custom is, every thirty or forty minutes, to rise to the surface of the water. This he does, by a spring from the bottom, made with all his feet at once. Having taken a little fresh air, and looked about him he, drops to the bottom again.

Of all the inhabitants of the deep, those of the SHARK-kind, are the most voracious. The smallest of this tribe is not less dreaded by greater fish, than many that seem more powerful; nor do any-of them seem fearful of attacking animals far above their size. But the great WHITE SHARK joins to the most amazing rapidity, the strongest appetites for mischief; as he approaches nearly in size to the whale, he far surpasses him in strength and celerity, in the formidable arrangement of his teeth, and his insatiable desire of plunder.

The white shark is found from twenty to thirty feet long. Some -assert, that they have seen them of four thousand pounds weight. The mouth is enormously wide; as is the throat, and capable of swallowing a man with great ease. But its furniture of teeth is still more terrible: of these there are six rows, extremely hard, sharp-pointed and of a wedge-like figure. It is asserted, there are seventy-two in each jaw; one hundred and forty-four in the whole. With these the jaws, both above and below, are planted all over, but he has a power of erecting or depressing them at pleasure. When the shark is at rest, they lie quite flat in his mouth: but when he prepares to seize his prey, he erects all this dreadful apparatus, and the animal he seizes dies, pierced with a hundred wounds in a moment.

His skin is rough, hard and prickly, being that substance which covers instrument-cases, called shagreen.

No fish can swim so fast he; he outstrips the swiftest ships, plays round them, darts out before them, and returns to gaze at the passengers. Such amazing’ powers, with such great appetites for destruction, would quickly unpeople even the ocean: but providentially the shark’s upper jaw projects so far above the lower, that he is obliged to turn on one side, not his back, as is generally supposed, to seize his prey. As this takes some small time to perform, the animal pursued often seizes that opportunity to escape.

TORTOISES are commonly known to exceed eighty years old; and there was one kept in the arch-bishop of Canterbury’s garden; at Lambeth, that was remembered above a hundred and twenty. it was at last killed by the severity of the frost, in its winter retreat, which was a heap of sand, at the bottom of the garden.

The young tortoises are gene rally excluded in about twenty-six days. The little animals no sooner leave the eggs than they seek for their provision; and their shell with which they are covered from the beginning, expands and grows larger with age. As it is. composed of a variety of pieces, they are capable of extension at their sutures, and the shell admits of increase in every direction. It is otherwise with those animals, whose shell is composed all of one piece that admits of no increase: which, when the tenant is too big for the habitation, must burst the shell, and get another. But the covering of the tortoise grows larger in proportion as the interior parts expand ; in some measure resembling the growth of the human skull, which is composed of a number of bones, increasing in size, in proportion to the quantity of the brain. All tortoises therefore, as they never change their shell, must have it formed in pieces: and though in some these marks have not been attended to, yet doubtless they are general to the whole tribe.

It is of different magnitudes, according to its different kinds some turtles not being above fifty pounds weight, and some above eight hundred.

The great MEDITERRANEAN TURTLE is the largest of the turtle-kind, with which we are acquainted. It is found from five to eight feet long, and from six to nine hundred pounds weight.

All tortoises, having small and weak feet, are exceeding slow in their motions. They have neither tongue nor teeth, nor any offensive weapon. How then can they take, how can they chew or in any degree comminute their food This is well provided for:

they break not only shells, but sometimes even stones with their lips: which, by their excessive hardness, effectually supply the want of teeth. But how can they defend themselves Abunclant provision is made for this also. Their shells more than cover the whole body, and are of so firm a texture, that a loaded waggon may go over them, without any injury either to the shell or the creature within it.

The blood of the tortoises is colde; than any common spring water; yet is the beating of the heart as vigorous as that of any animal, and the arteries as firm as those of any creature.

There is something highly remarkable in the change of tadpoles Into frogs; but there is still something more remarkable in the FROG-FISH. These are found in ‘great numbers in the river. Surinam. At first they are perfect frogs, they are spotted with brown, yellow, and green; but are paler on the belly, their hinder feet are webbed, like those of a goose, the fore feet without webs. The first change the animal undergoes, is by the, growing of a tail. After this the fore feet decrease, and perish by degrees. The decrease of the hinder legs follows, and at last the frog is changed’ into a perfect fish

It may not be unacceptable or unprofitable to those who see God even in his lowest works, to add a short account of a few more inhabitants of the waters.

FLYING-FISH are very rarely a foot long. They have a pretty large, though thin and light head. The mouth is generally open; the body small, roundish, and tapering towards the tail; besides the usual fins, they have under their necks, three broad and pretty long ones, of a more subtle structure, nearly as thin as a fly’s wing, hut strengthened with rows of bones. On the back part of their neck they have also a flying fin, about six inches long, quite erect; and lower down the back, there is another shorter, but broader. These wings they use to escape the pursuit of creatures too powerful for them. They rise several feet above the water, and fly the length of two or three musket-shot. Then they drop, because their wings are dry, which serve them no longer than they are moist.

The INK-FISH, as some call it, has a still more extraordinary way of escaping its pursuers. “I have lately,” says the author of the Natural History of Norway, “procured a dried one, which is two feet long. The body is almost round, resembling a small bag, and is blunt at both ends. But the head is the most remarkable part. It has two large eyes, and a mouth like a bird’s beak. Above this stand eight horns, like a star. Each horn is octangular, and covered with many small, round balls, something larger than a pin’s head. On each side of the body there are two skinny membranes, with which he can cover himself all over. The fore part of the body is quite filled with a black fluid. When it is pursued, it discharges this, which colours the water all around, and renders it invisible. This is a wonderful gift of nature, for the preservation of an animal, otherwise utterly helpless.

The ARBORESCENT STAR-FISH is another of the curiosities of nature. It is upwards of a foot in diameter, having its mouth in the middle. The figure of the trunk is pentangular, and from the five angles arise as many branches, which subdivide into several others, and those again into others, that are less, till the last are scarce thicker than horse-hairs, and in number above a thousand. in swimming he spreads all these branches like a net; and when he perceives any prey within them,’ draws them in again, and so takes them with all the dexterity of a fisherman.

Full as surprising a creature is the TORPEDO, a flat fish, much like a thorn-back. It is common on the coast of Provence, and is eaten without any ill effect. But upon touching it with the linger, the person commonly, though not always, feels an unusual, painful numbness, which suddenly seizes him up to the elbow, and sometimes up to the shoulder. It resembles, but far exceeds, the. pain felt by striking the elbow violently against a hard body. But it lasts only a few moments, and gradually wears away. if a man touch it with a stick he feels a little of it; if he presses his hand strongly against it, the numbness is the less. But it is so uneasy as to oblige him very speedily to let it go. Many have attempted to account for this; but should we not rather honestly own our ignorance

The SEA-NETTLE, SO called, is another strange production of nature, common, I suppose, in all the northern seas. It generally swims to the top of the water, and is throughout soft, smooth, and transparent. It appears to be a lump of slime or jelly. But it coheres firmly together, being marked in the middle with a cross somewhat like a flower-de-luce.

These creatures are blue, white, or red, and some of them have many branches underneath. These are usually something larger than the common sort, anti are of a dark red. They all abound with a corrosive poison, which if it drop on any part of the body will cause a smart and an inflammation, much like’ that produced by nettles. Hence it has its name. However it is no vegetable, but evidently a living creature. For it has sensation: it grows, moves to and fro, contracts and extends itself. It often picks up and devours small fish, and is itself devoured by others.

The care of the Creator is observable, even in so inconsiderable a creature as a LIMPET, a small shell-fish, which so fastens itself to the rock, that scarce any thing can unloose its hold.

The fact has long been known. But the manner of its fastening itself, was not understood till very lately. Its shell approaches to’ the figure of a cone; the base of which is occupied by a large muscle, which alone has nearly as much flesh in it, as the whole body of the fish. This is not covered by the shell, but serves the creature equally to move forward or to fix itself to the rock. When it is in a state of rest, which is the common case, it applies this muscle every way round to the surface of some stone, and thereby holds itself fixt to it so firmly, that it is impossible to take it off with the hands. Those who would remove them are obliged to make use of a knife for that purpose. And even then it is not easy: for on whatsoever side the blade of the knife attempts to enter, the fish immediately fixes its muscle with double force to the stone.

The true cause of his adhesion iš a viscous juice, a kind of glue, thrown out by this muscle, which though it is not perceptible to eye, yet it is easily perceived by the touch. For if immediately after the removing a limpet from the stone, the finger be applied to the place, it is fastened very strongly to it, by means of the glue left there. But if any wet have come upon the stone, since the fish has been removed, no viscosity can be perceived on it, the whole substance of the glue being immediately dissolved. This consideration may lead us to observe the great care of nature over all her works. How eminently is it manifested in this little fish It was absolutely necessary for its preservation, that it should have a power of fixing itself to the stone, or it would have been washed away by every wave. And this power is given it, by means of that glue which fixes it so firmly. But when itis fixed, how shall it be loosed This is equally necessary. For if there be not some power in the animal itself, to dissolve this glue, it must needs perish for want of food, when once fixt to a barren spot. Water is the proper dissolvent of this glue. But it cannot be the external water. This is kept at. a distance, by the close adhesion of the outer rim of the great circular muscle. And it is needful it should; else it would always dissolve the glue, as soon as it was discharged. But the under surface of the body of the animal is covered all over with small tubercles, most of which contain water. When, therefore, it would move, it has only to discharge a small quantity of this water, and the cement immediately dissolves and sets it at liberty. The other tubercles doubtless contain the viscous matter. So that, when the animal would fix itself, it needs only to squeeze one set of its tubercles; anti when it would loose itself, the other.

14. Upon the whole, how natural are the reflections, which a late writer makes on the inhabitants of the water!

What an abundance of fish do the waters produce t In these I seem to discern nothing but a head and a tail! They have neither feet nor hands. Nor have they any neck: so that their head can not be turned at all, any otherwise than by turning the whole body. Were I to consider their figure only, I should think they were destitute of all that was necessary for the preservation’ of their life. But with these few outward organs they are more nimble and dexterous, than if they had several hands and feet. And by the use they make of their tail and fins, they are carried along like arrows.

But as almost all fishes prey upon each other, and cannot sustain their own lives, any otherwise than by continually destroying those of their own species, how can the inhabitants of the water subsist How can many species escape utter destruction God has guarded against this, by multiplying them in so prodigious a manner. More than three hundred thousand eggs have been counted in the roe of a single salmon. By this means, let them be destroyed ever so fast, still their increase is equal to their consumption.

But who can explain how the inhabitants of the sea enjoy their perfect health, in the midst of water so loaded with salt And by what art is it, that they preserve, even there, a flesh that has not the least taste of it

Why do those, which are fittest for the use of man, come and offer themselves on our coasts; while so many that would be useless, if not pernicious, affect remoteness from us

Why do several of them, in their stated seasons, run up into our rivers, and communicate the advantages of the sea, to such countries as are far distant from it What hand conducts them with so much care and goodness but thine, 0 thou Prerserver of men !