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DATE

1449

1443

This book must not be
taken from the Library
building.

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NATURAL HISTORY

OF

BIRDS, FISH,
INSECTS, AND REPTILES.

EMBELLISHED WITH

UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS.

IN SIX VOLUMES.

VOL. IV.

ILoutiOtt?

PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR,
AND SOLD BY H. D. SYMONDS, PATERNOSIIR-ROW.

1808.

C. Squire, Printer,
FurniYal's-Inn-Court, Holbom.

CONTENTS

OF THE

FOURTH VOLUME.

ssaa.

Page

The Cachalot Physeter, or Spermaceti

Whale, and its Varieties - 1

— — Dolphin, Porpesse, Grampus, and

their Varieties * - 17

— — Grampus - - • 24

Beluga of the Sea - - S5

Of Cartilaginous Fish in general - 26

Of the Shark and its Affinities - 33

The Blue Shark - - - 40

Balance Fish - * 41

Saio ditto - - - ibid

Sturgeon - - •> 45

The Thornback - - • 54

Rough Ray - - t^ 55

Sharp-nosed Ray - - ibid

Scate - « . ibid

Fire Flare - - - 56

Torpedo •- - « 6.3

Lamprey - - - - 75

a 2

( iv )

Page
The Sea Orb - - - 82
Lentriscus - - 83

— Ostracion Cornutus - ibid

Five spirted Coney Fish * ibid

Old Wife . .84

Balistes - - - 87

Unicorn Fish - - ibid

' Long Flie ditto - - 83

■ Sea Horse - - 89

Pipe Fish - - 91

Sucker - - ^ 92

Lumpiis, or Lump Fish - ibid

Lessei' Sucking ditto - 94

Liparis - - - ibid

Sun Fish - - 95

■ Fishing Frog - - ibid
Armour Fish - * 97

■ Viper Mouth - - 99
Galley Fish - - 101

— Ink ditto m - 103
Boney, or Spinous ditto - 104
Prickly-finned ditto

Trichuruf - - l^o

Sword Fish - - 121

Dorada, or Gilt-head - ibid

-— Uranoscopus - - 122

— — Dragonet - - ibid

Page

The Blennaous, or Blenny - 12^2

' Gudgeon - - ibid

Razor Fish - - 12J

Mackarel - - ibid

Wrasse - - ibid

Sea Bream - - ibid

Cat Fish - - 124

Perch - - - ibid

Fathei'-lasher - - ibid

Surmulet - - ibid

Gurnard - - ibid

Bullhead - - 125

. Doree - - - ibid

1 Sahre - - - ibid

Strickleback - - ibid

Sheat Fish - - ibid

Mullet - - - 12©

Polynemus - - ibid

. Sea Serpent - - ibid

Soft^finned Fish - - 127

Eeel - - - ibid

Gymnotus, or Carapo - ibid

Wolf Fish " - ibid

Ammodytes - - ibid

. Lepadogaster - - 128

Cod Fish - - ibid

- Sucking ditto - - ibid

( vi j

rage

The Garter Fish - - 128

Loricarla - - i29

Sword Fish - - 133

■ Dorada - - 133

Sea WoJf - . 13(3

Cat Fish - - 140

Salmon - - 144

' Capelar - . 151

Tunmj . . 153

Cod - - - 157

Haddock - - 159

Whiting - . ibid

Herring - , KJO

Sprat - - . ibid

jSAgc? - - . 1(55

- Anchovy - - jf,'^
Sinensis - - Igg

Car/> - - - 169

Gold and Silver Fish - - " 17()

The Barbel - . « Igo

Tench
Chub

183

185
^/ea/; - - ^ 15^

Gudgeon ^ - lg7

Coryphcesea - ^ igy

IPO

£/Me Fi^;^

Parrot ditto - - jbid

( vii )

Page

The Flying Fish - - 1^1

Slender Flying ditto - 194

— ^ Kite ditto - - ibid

Sucking ditto - - 197

Eel - - - 199

Sand Eel - - 200

Pike - « - 201

Mackarel - ' 205

Gwniei - - - 206

Greyling, or Umher - 207

. Loach - - - 208

^^meZ^ - - - 209

Perch - - - 210

Mullet - - - 211

Blenny - - ibid

.. Crab, Lobster, and their Affinities 212

» Common Lobster - - 214

^ — Plated ditto - - 219

Craw Fish - - - ibid

Praicn - - - 222

Shrimp - - - ibid

. White ditto - - ibid

Avosa Lobster - - 223

Flea ditto - - ibid

Locust ditto - - ibid

Soldier Crab - - 224

Sand^itto - - 229

( viii )

Pag-'

The Mottled Crab - - 22(5

Rough-shelled ditto - 227

Red-claio ditto - - 22S

Pea ditto - - ibid

■ Coinmon ditto - » ibid

' BlacJc-cIaiv ditto - - 229

Velvet ditto - - ibid

Horrid ditto - - ibid

Land ditto - - 230

Amphibious Animals - - 240

The Turtle and Tortoise - 253

— — La7id Tortoise - - 255

African ditto - • 259

Green Turtle - _ - 265

Soft-shelled ditto - 2o(5

Tuberculaied ditto - 267

Crocodile - - 075

Testaceous Fish - _ 054

Garden Snail - - 291

Water ditto ' - ._ 297

■ Trochus - - - 300

Nautilus - « 302

Bivalved Shell-fish - _ 307

T/ie Muscle - - « 303

0?/5/er - - - 313

Scallop and Cockle - 317

• Pivot - . _ ibid

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

BIRDS, FISH, REPTILES, S,c.

THE CACHALOT, PHYSETER, OR SPERMACETI
^VHALE, AND ITS VARIETIES,

/^NE of the leading cbaractei istics of this
genus, is a number of teeth in the under
jaw, but none in the upper. It is by no means
of such an enormous size as the common whale.
The tongue is small, but the throat, in con-
tradistinction to the former tribe, is aitiazingly
capacious, so that at one gulph it can swallow
shoals of the smaller fish ; its gullet is so enor-
mous that it has been described as capacious
enough to admit an ox. Loads of fish, some
eight or nine feet in length, have been found
undigested in its stomach ; it is tlierefore as
destructive as the whak is harmless. The
roL. IV. B head

fROFERTY UBRARf

N. C. StaU CoUegt

^ NATURAL HISTORY

head of the whale is nearly one third the size
of the body ; but the head of the cachalot
constitutes one half of the animal. More slen-
der than the former, it is also more active, and
proportionably depredatory. This creatuie
received its present technical name from Mr,
Pennant, who enumerates seven different
species :

1. The cachalot, with two fins and a black
back ;

2. The cachalot, with two fms and a whitish
back ;

S. That with a spout in the neck ;

4. That with a spout in the snout;

5. That with three fins and sharp pointed
teeth ;

6. That with three fins and sharp-edged
teeth ; and

7. The cachalot, with three fins and flat
teeth.

The caclnilot race yields a smaller quantity
of oil than the preceding genus, which, how-
ever, is amply atoned for by its affording so
abundantly those two valuable articles, sper-
maceti and ambergris.

The ignorance of the people who first used
spermaceti, gave it a nanie which seemed to

express

OF "felRpS, FJSH, SyC. 3

express its being the semen of the whale; but
it is, in reality, no more than a preparation of
the oil with which that iish abounds.

It is a fine, bright, white, and semi-pellucid
substance, formed into oblong ilakes very light,
soft, and unctuous to the touch, inflammable,
soluble in oil, but not in watery menstrua; of
scarcely any smell when fresh and fine, and
of a soft, agreeable, and unctuous taste. The
largest, firmest, and whitest flakes of it should
be chosen. It is liable to become rancid and
yellowish in keeping; and the smaller frag-
ments contract this bad quality sooner tharx
the larger.

The first knowledge that the world seems to
have had of spermaceti, was the finding it
swimming on the surface of the water in the
northern seas: and it is not surprising that peo-
ple Avho knew no more of its origin than what
they were informed of by those who found it
so floating on the sea, referred it to the mine-
ral class, supposing it to be bitumen formed
in the bowels of the earth, and thrown up
from the bottom of the ocean, as was the opi-
nion of Schroder, and others of his time. It
was discovered soon after, however, that the
head of a peculiar species of whale, afforded a
fatty substance, which, when boiled, and pro-
perly

B 2

4 NATURAL HISTORY

perly prepared, was analagous to this. And
hence it was soon deduced, that the masses of
it first found on the water, were of the same
origin ; tliat they had heen formerly an oily
matter in this fish, which, getting loose, on
the decay of the dead carcase, or by any other
means, had been washed and bleached hv the
salt water, and the sun, into the form in whicli
it was then found. The opinion of its being
the sperm, or semen, of the whale, was as
early almost as its first discovery, and seems
to have been formed merely on account of its
whiteness.

The spermaceti of the shops was made first
from the head of this fish ; the oil obtained
from its brain, and the diploe of the cranium,
furnishing all that we had of it ; and hence
the consideiuble price it was then kept at. It
was some time after found out, however, that
any whale oil would do as well as this, which
occasioned the price to fall considerably. At
present it is made in England from whale oil
of any kind, the settling of our oilmen's large
vessels, particularly, which are boiled with a
quantum of German pot-ash, or pearl-ashes,
till white and firm ; and after several other
meltings, and a thorough separation of what
saline particles might have got into the matter,

4t

OF BIR-DS, FISH, &C. ^

it is, when cold, cut out with knives into the
flakes we see it in. The process is easy, but
it requires care, and nice inspection towards
the end: if not enough boiled, it is apt to
turn yellowy and soon grows rancid.

Spermaceti is, therefore, oil of the animal
kind, rendered very sweet, and fit for internal
use. Its virtues are emollient and pectoral ; it
is good in coughs, and other disorders of the
breast; and excellent in internal applications,*
such as liniments and the like; it readily dis-
solves in oil, or other fatty substances, for the
latter purposes ; and for the former, it blends
with the yolk of an egg, and after that mixes
with an aqueous fluid, and makes a pleasant
emulsion.

But the spermaceti, as naturally formed, is
undoubtedly the brain of the animal. A thick
covering of fat lies immediately under the
skin of the head ; beneath this fat, there is
another thick skin, which instead of a bony
skull, serves for the covering and defence of
the animal's brain. The first cavity of the
brain is filled with that spermaceti which is

supposed

♦ Thus Shakspeare^'s fop told Hotspur,

. " That spermaceti

Was the sovereigii'sl thing on earth

For an inward braise." Jlenry IV,

P NATURAL HISTORY

supposed tQ be of the greatest purity an<J
highest vakie. Seven barrels of the clearest
spermaceti is generally the produce of this ca-
yity, Vv'hjch when thrown upon water, coagu-
lates like cheese. There is also another cham»
ber or cavity, just over the gullet, about seven
feet high, that affords a considerable quantit}^
though of less value than the first. It is ob-
servable, that in proportion as the oily sub-
stance is drawn from this part, it fills again
from every part of the body. The spinal mar-
row also aftbrds no inconsiderable quantity.
This substance has become not more an article
of manufacture than a medicine ; for candles,
cheaper though not less elegant than wax,
are plentifull}^ made of it.

Ambergris, which is now also known to be
the production of the cachalot \yhale, is a solid,
opake, ash-coloured, fatty, hiflamniable sub-
stance, variegated like marble, remarkably
light, rugged, and uneven in its surface, and
has a fragrant odour when ht^attd.

It is found swimming upon the sea, or on
the sea coast, or in the sand near the sea coast ;
especially in the Atlantic Ocean, on the coast
of Brasil, and that of Madagascar; on the
coast of Africa, of the East Indies, China, Ja-
pan, and Molucco islands; but most of the

ambergris

O^ BIRDS, FiSH, k&. t

ambergris which is brought to England comes
from the Bahama islands, from Providence, &c.
where it is found on the coast. It is also some**
times found in the abdomen of whales by the
whale fishermen, always in lumps of various
shapes and sizes, weighing from half an ounce
to a hundred or more pounds. The piece
which the Dutch East India company brought
from the King of Tydor, weighed 189 pounds^
An American fisherman from Antigua tbund,
some years ago, about 32 leagues south-east
from the Windward Islands, a piece of am*
bergrise in a whale, which w^eighed about 130
pounds, and sold for 5001. sterling-.
' The most satisfactory account of the real
X)rigin of ambergris, is that given by Dr. Swe-
diar, in the 73d volume of the Philosophical
Transactions, art. 15. According to the best
information he could obtain from several of
the most intelligent persons employed in the
spermaceti whale-fishery, and in procuring-
smd selling ambergris, it appears, that this
substance is sometimes found in the belly of
the whale, but in a particular species only,
which is called the spermaceti ichale.

The New England fishermen, according to
their account, have long known that amber-
g-ris is to be found in the spermaceti whale,

and

4 NATURAL HISTORY

and they are so convinced of this fact, that,
whenever they hear of a place where amber-
gris is found, they always conclude that the
seas in that part are frequented by this spe-
cies of whale.

The persons who are employed in the sper-
maceti whale fishery, confine their views to the
great headed whaie, or macrocephalus. When-
ever they hook a spermaceti whale, they ob-
serve, that it not only constantly vomits what-
ever it has in its stomach, but also commonly
discharges its faeces at the same time, and if
the latter circumstance take place, they are
genei*ally disappointed in finding ambergris in
its belly. But whenever they discover a sper-
maceti whale, male or female, which seems tor-
pid and sickly, they are ahvays pretty sure to
find ambergris, as in this state it seldom
voids its fjEces upon being hooked. They
likewise meet with it in the dead spermaceti
\vhales, which they sometimes find floating on
the sea. It is observed also, that the whale,
in which they find ambergris, often has a
morbid protuberance, or, as they express it,
a kind of gathering in the lower part of its
belly, in which, if cut open, ambergris is
found. It is observed, that all those whales, in
whose bowels ambergris is found, seem not

only

OF BIRDS, riSH, &C. 9

torpid and sick, but are also constantly leaner
than others; so that if we may judge from
the constant union of these two circumstances,
it would seem that a larger collection of am-
bergris in the belly of the whale is a source
of disease, and probably sometimes the cause
of its death. As soon as they hook a whale
of this description, torpid, sickly, emaciated,
or one that does not dung on being hooked,
they immediately either cut up the above-
mentioned protuberance, if there be any, or
they rip open its bowels from the orifice of the
anus, and find the ambergris sometimes in
one, sometimes in different lumps; generally
from six to twelve and more inches in dia-
meter, and from one pound to twenty or
thirty in weight, at the distance of two, but
more frequentl^^ of about six or seven feet from
the anus, and never higher up in the intestinal
canal, which, according to their description,
is, in all probability, the intestimmi ccecum,
hitherto mistaken for a peculiar bag made by
nature for the secretion and collection of this
singular substance. That the part they cut
open to obtain the ambergris is no higher
than the intestinal canal is certain, because
they constantly begin their incision at the
anus, and find the cavity every where filled
VOL. IV. C up

10 NATURAL HISTORY

lip with the feces of the whale, which from
their colour and smell it is impossible for
them to mistake. T he ambergris found in
the intestinal canal is not so hard as that
which is found on the sea or sea-coast,
but soon grows hard in the air; when first
taken out, it has nearly the same colour, and
the same disagreeable smell, though not so
strong as the more liquid dung of the whale
has; but on exposing it to the air, it not
only by degrees grows greyish, but it also
loses its disagreeable smell, and when kept
for a certain length of time, acquires the
peculiar odour which is so agreeable to most
people.

The gentlemen that Dr. Swediar conversed
■with confessed, that if they knew not from
experience that ambergris thus found will in
time acquire the above-mentioned qualities,
the}^ would by no means be able to distinguish
ambergris from hard indurated faices. This
is so true, that whenever a whale voids its
fiEces upon being hooked, they look carefully
to see if they cannot discover in the more
liquid excrements (of which the whale dis-
charges several barrels), some pieces floating
on the sea, of a more compact substance than

the

OF BIRDS, FiSII, ^C. 11

the rest ; these they take up and wash,
knowing- them to he ambergris.

All ambergris, when taken out of whales,
has nearly the same smell as the liquid ex-
crements of the animal, and also the same
blackish colour: and it is a fact, that after
being taken out and kept in the air, it grows
not only harder and whiter, but also loses,
by degrees, its smell, and assumes such an
agreeable one, as that in general has which
is found swimming upon the sea; the good-
ness, therefore, of ambergris seems to depend
much upon its age; and the only reason why
ambergris found floating on the sea is of
better quality, is its greater age and longer
exposure to the air- It is more frequently
found in males than females — the pieces in
the latter being generally smaller, and the
quality inferior.

It is well known that the sepia Gctopodki^
or cuttle-fish, is the constant and natural food
of the spermaceti whale, or physeter macro-
ccpliaJus, Of this the fishers are so well per-
suaded, that whenever they discover any re-
cent relics of it swimming on the sea, they
conclude that a whale of this kind is, or has
been, in that part. Another circumstance
which corroborates the fact is, thiit the sper-
C 2 maceti

12 NATURAL HISTORY

maceti whale, on being hooked, generally
vomits up some remains of the sepia. Hence
it is easy to account for the many beaks or
pieces of beaks, of the sepia found in all
ambergris. The beak of the sepia is a black
horny substance, and therefore passes undi-
gested through the stomach into the intestinal
canal, where it is mixed with the fyeces ; after
which, it is either evacuated with them, or
if these latter be preternaturally retained, forms
concretions with them, which render the ani-
mal sick and torpid, and produce an obsti-
pation, which ends either in an abscess of
the abdomen, as has been frequently observed,
or becomes fatal to the animal ; whence in
both cases, on the bursting of its belly, that
hardened substance, known bv the name of
ambergrisy is found swimming on the sea,
or thrown upon the sea coast.

From the preceding account, and his having
constantly found the above-mentioned beaks
of the sepia in all pieces of ambergris of any
considerable size. Dr. Swediar concludes, with
great probability^ tliat all ambergris is gene-
rated in the bowels of the Physeter macroce-
phalus, or spermaceti whale, and there mixed
with the beaks of the sepia octopodia, which
Is the principal food of that whale. He

therefore

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 13

tlierefore defines ambergris to- be the preter-
natumlly hardened dimg, or fceces, of the
physeter macrocephalus, mixed with some in-
digestible relics of its food.

The use of ambergris in Europe is now
nearly confined to perfumery, though it was
formerly recommended in medicine by many
eminent physicians, yet perhaps in quantities
too small to produce any sensible effect.

In Asia and part of Africa, ambergris is
not only used as a medicine, and as a per-
fume, but considerable use is also made of it
in cookery, by adding it to several dishes as
a spice.

By the pilgrims who frequent Mecca, it is
used in fumigations, in the same manner ajs
frankincense is used in Catholic countries.
The Turks made use of it as an aphrodisiac ;
and among the English perfumers it is applied
to a variety of purposes.

One thing is very remarkable; that this
drug, which is the most sweet of all the per-
fumes, should be capable of being imitated
in smell, by a preparation of the most odious
of all stinks. Mr. Hornbey found, that a
vessel in which he had made a long digestion
of the human fseces acquired a very strong
and perfect smell of ambergris, insomuch that

anv

i-i XATUR.VL mstORf

any one would have thought a great qiuintity
of essence of ambergris had been made in it.
The perfume was po strong and otiensive,
that the vessel was obliged to be removed out
of the laboratory.

To view these animals in a commercial
light, we must observe, that the English
were so late as the year 1755 before they'
engaged in the whale fishery/. This appears
strange ; for by the account Octher gives of
liis travels to King Alfred, almost seven hun-
dred years before that period (in Hackiuyl*s
collection of voyages), it is evident that he
made that monarch acquainted with the Nor-
wegians practising the whale fish'jry ; but
it seems all memory of that gainful employ,
as well as of that able vo3-ager Octher, and
all his important discoveries in the North,
were. lost for nearly seven centuries.

It was carried on by the Biscayeneers long
before we attempted the trade ; and that for
the sake, not only of the oil, but also of the
whalebone, which they seem to have long
trafficked in. The earliest notice we find of
that article in our trade Is by Hackluyt, who
says it was brought from the Bay of St. Law-
rence by an English ship that went there foi'
the harhcs and fynnes of whales and tmin

oil,

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 15

oil, 1594, and who found there seven or
eight hundred whale fynnes, part of the
cargo of two great Biscayer ships, that had
been wrecked there three years before. Pre-
viously to that, the ladies' stays must have
been made of spHt cane, or some tough wood,
as Mr. Anderson observes, in his dictionary
of commerce; it being certain that the whale
fishtry was carried on for the sake of the oil,
long before the discovery of the use of whale-
bone.

The great resert of these animals was found
to be on the inhospitable shores of Spitzber-
gen, and the European ships made that place
the principal fishery, which for numbers of
years was very successful : the English com-
menced that business about the year 1598,
and the town of Hull had the honour of first
attempting that profitable branch of trade.
At present it seems to be on the decline, the
quantity of fish being greatly reduced by the
constant capture for such a vast length of
time : some recent accounts, indeed, inform
us, that the fishermen, from a defect of whales,
apply themselves to seal-fishing, from which
animals they extract oil. This, too, it is ap-
prehended will not be of long continuance; for
these shy and timid creatures will soon be in-
duced

W XATURAL HISTORY

duced to quit those shores, by being perpetually
harrassed, as the morse or walrus has already
done. It is also said, that the poor natives of
Greenland begin even nov^'" to suffer from the
decreaseof the seal in their seas — itbeing their
principal subsistence, so that should it totally
desert the coast, that miserable countiy would
be in danger of perishing through want.

In former times, it appears that the whale
was never taken on our coasts, except when
it was accidentally thrown ashore : it was
then deemed a royal fish, and the King and
Queen divided the spoil ; — the King asserted
his right to the head, and her Majesty to the
tail.

The art of taking whales is not only so ge-
nerally known as to exclude it from a share
of this work, but is indeed foreign to the
design. The fishery begins in May, and gene-
rally concludes with the end of August. The
methods of catching have been improved by
time, and the use of the harpoon has given way
to machines more powerful and more certain.
Better modes have been discovered for extract-
ing the oil, and better instruments for cutting
up the animal, than were used in the early
fisheries. To some nations, the flesh of the
whale is a dainty; the French seamen now and

then

j[j.,/f^./,UL.

Mar/c .

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 17

then dress it for their diet at sea, and the na-
tives of Greenland, as well as the savage in-
habitants of countries near the South Pole, not
only use it as their common food, but are fond
of it to distraction, and drink the oil as a first-
rate delicacy. Jacobson, the naturalist of the
Faroe island, after mentioning that his coun-
trymen live a part of the year upon salted
gulls, tells us also that they are very fond of
salted vi'hale's flesh. The fat of the head
they season with bay salt, and then hang it
up to dry in the chimney. He thinks it
tastes as well as fat [bacon; and the lean,
which they boil, is in his opinion, not in-
ferior to beef.

THE DOLPHIN, PORPESSE, GRAMPUS, AND
THEIR VARIETIES.

THE natural shape of the Dolphin is
almost straight, the back being very slightly
curvated, and the body slender; the nose
is long, narrow, and pointed, not much unlike
VOL. IV. D the

18 WATURAL HISTORY

the beak of some birds. It is cl'eaiiy distin-
guished from the preceding genera by having
teeth in both jaws, namely, twenty-one in the
upper, and nineteen in the lower jaw ; they
are above an inch long, conic at their upper
end, pointed, and bending a little in. They
are placed at a small distance from each other,,
so that when the mouth is shut, the teetli of
both jaws lock into each other: the spout-
hole is placed in the middle of the head ; the
tail is semi-lunar; the skin is smooth, the
colour of the back and sides dusky, the belly
whitish ; it swims with great swiftness, and
its prey is fisli.

The dolphin has a strong resemblance to the
porpesse, except that its snout is longer and
more pointed. All these species have fms on
the back, and very large heads, like the rest of
the whale kind ; they resemble each other in
their appetites, their manners, and conforma-
tion, being equally voracious, active, and
roving. No fish could escape them, were it
not for the awkward position of their mouth,
which is placed in a manner under the head,
and their own agility is so great as to prevent
them from being often taken. They seldom
remain a moment above water, though their
too eager pursuit after prey sometimes exposes
• them

OF EIRDS, FISH, &C. IQ

them to danger; a shoal of herrings often al-
kires them out of their depth, and they con*
tinue to flounder in the shallows till knocked
on the head, or the returning tide comes to
their relief. And when taken they sometimes
have a plaintive moan, by which they continue
to express their pain till they expire.

Historians and Philosophers seem to have
contended who should invent most fables con-
cerning this fish ;^t was consecrated to the
Gods,--was celebrated in the earliest time for
its fondness of the human race, — was ho-
noured by the title of the sacred fish, and
distinguished by those of hoy-loving, and
philanthropist. It gave rise to a long train
of inventions, proofs of the credulity and ig-
norance of the times. Aristotle steers the
clearest of all the ancients with respect to these
fables, and gives, in general, a faithful history
of the animal; but the elder Pliny, and others,
set no bounds to their belief of the tales re-
lated of this tish's attachment to mankind.
Scarcely an accident could happen at sea, but
the dolphin offered himself to convey to shore.
Arion, the musician, when flung into the ocean
by the pirates, who had plundered him, is re-
ceived and saved by this benevolent fish : and
of equal notoriety is the story of the boy, who
D ^ . ^ daily

20 NATURAL HISTORY

daily took an airing into the midst of the sea
upon the dolphin's back, and returned in
safet}\

In leaping out of the water, this fish as-
sumes a temporary curvature, which is not
natural to it; but which the painters and poets,
who perhaps on this occasion borrowed from
each other, have constantly given them ; and
which has indeed become too general an error.

By what means this fish became the favorite
of antiquity, it is not easy to conceive ; its sup-
posed attachment to the human race, in pre-
ference to any of the cetaceous tribe, has been
detected and justly ridiculed; for had it pos-
sessed any such peculiarities, they must long
since have been ascertained. Their appear-
ance too, so far from being prepossessing, or
received as a favourable omen, is considered
by sailors as an unfavourable one, and their
gambols as an admonition to prepare for a
storm.

The dolphin was formerly reckoned a de-
licacy: Dr. Caius says, that one which was
taken in his time (in the reign of Elizabeth)
was thought a present worthy of the Duke of
Norfolk, who distributed part of it among his
friends. It was roasted and dressed with por-

pesse

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 21

pesse sauce, made of crumbs of fine wheat
bread, with vinegar and sugar.

It may be necessary to observe, that this
species of dolphin must not be confounded
with that to which seamen give the same
name, but which is quite a different fish, and
will aftei*wards be described among the spi-
nous class, under its proper title.

The phocaena, or porpesse is found in vast
multitudes in all parts of th6 British seas.
Their bodies are thick towards the head, but
grow slender towards the tail, forming the
figure of a cone. In each jaw are forty-eight
teeth, small, sharp- pointed, and moveable;
and so placed that the teeth of one jaw lock
into those of the other. The eyes are small,
as is the spout-hole on the top of the head.
In colours the back is black, and the belly
whitish — but they sometimes vary. In the
river St. Lawrence there is a white kind. —
Dr. Borsale in his voyage to the Scilly isles,
observed a small species of cetaceous fish,
which he calls ihornbacks, from their broad
and sharp fin on the back. Some of these
were brown, some quite white, others spotted ;
but whether they were only a variety of this
fish, or whether they were small grampusses,
>\hich are also spotted, we cannot determine.

The

9Q KATURAL HISTORY

The porpesse is remarkable for the vast quan-
tity of fat or lard that surrounds its body, and
yields an excellent oil. The nose being fur-
nished with very strong muscles, that enable
it to turn up the sand for eels and sea-worms,
it is thence in many places called the sea-hog :
and the animal sleeps with its snout above
the water.

At the season when the fish of passage ap-
pear, as mackrel, herring, pilchards, and sal-
mon, the porpesses swarm, and pursue them
even up the rivers with great avidity, follow-
ing their game like a pack of hounds. In
Cornwall during the pilchard season, they
often do much mischief, by a universal lacera-
tion of the nets, and interrupting the fishery.
In some places they almost darken the sea,
as they rise above water to take breath, which
tliey do very frequently.

The porpesse was a royal dish even so late
as the reign of Henry VIII. as appears from
the household book of that Prince, quoted in
the third volume of the archoelogia ; and
must, from its size, liave held a respectably
situation at the princely board ; it continued
in vogue even in the reign of Elizabeth.

There are evidently in men many palates and
tastes as well as minds and opinions ; and the

tastes

OF BiJftSs, riSM, &;c. ^3

tastes of people of the Same country vary
much in difterent ages. Stinking fish is a
luxurious food to the negroes of the coast of
Ouinea; the stranding of a whale on Fox
islands is such a happy eVetit, that the inha-
bitants immediately collect round the oily
animal, and with sundiy tokens of joy and
exultation, devour the best parts of it before
they separate; aUd in England we see that
what two hundred and fifty years ago was a
feast for a king, is now abhorred by a peasant.
But would not our ancestors have had some
cause for astonishment, could they have fore-
seen that there would be annually a large im-
portation of an amphibious creature from the
East and West Indies to qualify the taste of
the British epicures of the eighteenth cen-
tury ? the porpesse is disgusting to us, and
tli« taste of caHpash and calipee is exquisite :
yet might not this to our eighth Henry, and to
those of his courtiers, who w^ere no less hon~
vivans than their sovereign, be a fish and a
dish equally monstrous ?

Such is the violence of the porpesse, as we
have already observed, in pursuit of its prey,
that it will follow a shoal of small fish up a
fresh water river, from whence it fmds a diffi-
culty to return. These creatures have been

often

24 NATURAL HISTORY

often taken in the river Tharnes, both above
and below London-bridge; and it is curious to
observe with what dexterity they avoid their
pursuers, and how momentarily they recover
their breath above the water. It is usual to
spread four or five boats over the part of the
river where they are seen, and to fire at them
the instant they rise.

The porpesse yields no inconsiderable quan-
tity of oil, and its capture is therefore rendered
an object of consideration. The lean of the
young ones is also said to be well tasted, and not
unlike veal. They go with young ten months ;
they seldom bring forth more than one at a
time, and generally in the summer : from the
ova found in this fish, a kind of caviare is made,
which is eaten as a sauce, or with bread . It is
conjectured that they live about thirty years.

The Orcttj or Grampus^ was very justly
called by Pliny "an immense heap of flesh
armed with dreadful teeth.** It is said to be an
enemy to the whale, on which it will fasten hke
a dog upon a bull, till the animal roars with
pain ; and it is so voracious as not even to
spare the porpesse, though of so kindred a na-
ture. They are found from 15 to 25 feet long ;
and 80 thick in proportion to their length, that
one of 18 feet long is, in the thickest part, more

than

^i StoU College

OF BIRDS, FISH, <^C. 95

than ten feet diameter. There are 30 teeth
in each jaw; those before are blunt, round,
and slender ; the farthest sharp and thick',
and which look into each other like those of
the porpesse. The spout-hole is in the top
of the neck ; the colour of the back is black,
but on each shoulder is a large white spot ;
the sides marbled black and white, the belly
of a snowy whiteness. They seldom appear
on our coasts, but are found in great quanti-
ties oft' the North Cape in Norway, whence
they are termed North Capers,

The Beluga of the Sea is from 12 to 3 8 feet
in length, has a short head, blunt nose, very
minute eyes, and a small mouth, w^ith 36 short
blunt teeth; the pectoral fins nearly of an
oval form; and beneath the skin may be felt
the bones of five fingers, which terminate at
the edge of the fin in five very sensible pro-
jections. The tail is divided into two lobes,
which lie horizontal 1}^; but do not fork, except
a little at the base, and it has no dorsal fin.
In swimming, this fish bends its tail under it
like a lobster, and works it with such force as
to dart along with the rapidity of an arrow.

lliis fish is common in all the arctic seas,
and forms an article of commerce, being taken
VOL. IV. E on

96 NATURAL HISTORY

on account of its blubber. There are fibheries
for them and the porpesse in the river St.
Lawrence : — a considerable quantity of oil is
extracted from them, and of their skin is
made a sort of morocco leather, thin, yet
strong enough to resist a musl<et ball. They
are usually caught in nets, but are sometimes
harpooned. They produce only one young at
a time, which is dusky,, but grows white in
proportion to its age, the change first com-
mencing on the belly. Tliey are apt to fol-
low boats, as if they were tamed, and appear
extremely beautiful, on account of their re-
splendent whiteness.

OF CARTILAGINOUS FISH IN GENERAL.

CARTILAGINOUS is a title given to all
those fish, the muscles of which are supported
by cartilages or gristles, instead of bones.

A certain ambiguity of character marks
this class in every point of view ; and which
forms one of those singular shades that com-
plete the imperceptible gradations of nature.

Cetaceous

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 6t

Cetaceous fish approach the nearest to
quadrupeds, as well in their conformation as
in their manners ; their bones are thick, -white,
and filled with marrow; but fish of the carti-
laginous kinds have their bones always soft
and yielding; and which, uninfluenced by
the common effects of age, while it hardens
the bones of the animals, rather contributes
to soften theirs. The size of all bony fish
is supposed to increase with age, though
certainly within a limited degree; but from
the pliability of the cartilaginous substitute
in this tribe, it must be highly difficult to
place bounds to their dimensions, or not to
suppose that they may increase in bulk until
the termination of their existence.

Cartilaginous fish unite in their formation
seveml leading properties of the other two
tribes. Like the cetaceous, thej^ have lungs ;
and like the sjjinous, they have gills, and a
heart without a partition :' thus they possess
a twofold manner of breathing, sometimes
by their lungs, and sometimes by their gills.
And this double capacity of breathing in car-
tilaginous fibh, is one of the most remarkable
features in the history of nature ; as they are
thus enabled to unite all the advantages o
E 2 which

58 NATURAL HIStORY

wliicli their situation is capable, and drawing
from both elements every aid to their necessi-^
ties or their enjoyment.

The apertures by which they breathe are
variously placed : the shark has them in the
bides 01 his head, the pipe-fish on th& top,
and the flat-fish generally beneath. The gills
are affixed to these apertures, but ** without
•any bone to open and shut them,"— -a circum-
stance that essentially disthiguishes the carti-
laginous from the spinous class of fish, how-
ever great the resemblance in other respects.
From the gills are cylindrical ducts, running
to the lungs, and which are supposed to
convey the air that gives play to the organs ;
but as the gills want the pulmonary vein
andarter\', they are supposed to be ineffec-
tual for su{)plying the same offices as in
quadrupeds; the heart, also, having but
one valve, must preclude the blood from that
double circulation Vv'hicli it obtains in the
cetaceous kind.

This tribe is evidently possessed of certain
superior advantages to both the cetaceous and
spinous ; and is enabled to live a much longer
time out of the water than those whose gills
are more simple ; they can venture their heads

above

"OF BIRDS, FISH, ^C. W

above the deep, and continue for hours out of
their native element, as we experience in the
shark and ray, which can Uve some hours
after being taken, though the spinous herring
or mackerel expire in a few minutes. They
also possess an advantage over the cetaceous
fish, in being able to remain continually under
water without ever taking breath.

The cartilaginous, like the cetaceous fii>]i,
are said to have their amorous intercourses
more hiimano, in which situation they are
often discovered ; they have, however, this
distinguishing peculiarity, that the male pos-
sesses two instruments of generation. They
generally chuse colder seasons and situations
for propagating their kind than other fish;
and many of them bring forth in the midst
of winter.

Though some of these fish bring forth their
young alive, and some bring forth eggs, which
are afterwards brought to maturity, yet the
manner of gestation is nearly the same in all;
for, upon dissection, it is uniformly found that
the young, while in the body, continues in the
^g^ until a very little time before they are ex-
cluded. Quadrupeds, and the cetaceous tribe,
are excluded from the ovum in a short period
alter their first conception, and cciitinue in the

womb

so l^ATURAL lilSTORY

womb se^^eral months after: but cartilaginous
fish may properly be said to hatch within
their bodies, where the young remains in the
egg state for weeks together; and the eags
are united by a membrane, from which, when
the fcetus gets free, it continues but a very
short time till it delivers itself from its con-
finement m;the womb.

Of those genera which bring forth their
young alive, may be ranked the shark, and
the ray kinds ; while the sturgeon, and many
of the slender shaped sorts, exclude their
progeny in the state of eggs, before the animal
is come to its state of disengaging. 'J 'he e^gs
themselves consist of a white and yelk ; but
the substance that corresponds with the shell
in the agrial tribe may aptly enough be com-
pared to horn.

Such are the leading characteristics of car-
tilaginous fish : and we may observe that
there is ver\^ little difference between the i'?i'?-
parovs and the oviparous kinds : — that the
one hatch their eggs in the womb, and
the young are soon excluded after incuba-
tion : while the others exclude their eggs be-
fore hatching, and leave the future care of
their offspring to time and the operations of
nature.

Cartilaginous

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 31

Cartilaginous fish, of all others, ahoiind
with the greatest variety of ill-formed and
mishapen individuals: it might be unphilo-
sophical to call them the class of monsters;
though in fact they exhibit a variety of shape-
less beings, the deviations of which from the
usual form of fish, Goldsmith very elegantly
obser\^es, " are beyond the power of words to
describe, and almost of the pencil to draw.'*

Nature seems to have made a four-fold di-
vision of this chss, whose arrangement we
shall endeavour, as nearly as we can, to fol-
low, pointing out the most striking peculia-
rities of each.

The jfirst division is that of the shark kind,
with a body growing less tov/ards the tail ; a
rough skin, with a mouth placed far beneath
the end of the nose ; five apertures on the
sides of the neck for breathing ; and the
upper part of the tail longer than the lower.

The second division comprehends the stur-
geon, and its varieties.

The third division is that of flat fish, whose
broad, flat, thin shape is sufficiently capable of
distinguishing them from all others of the
kind. The scate, the torpedo, the ray, &c.
are placed in this tribe, and all these may
be easily distinguished from spinous flat fish,

by

5^ NATURAL HISTORY

by the holes through which they breathe,
which in this kind are five on each side, and
are not covered by an\^ bone.

The slender, snake-shaped kind, such as
the lamprey, &c. constitute the fourth division.

To these may be added an anomalous cata-
logue, comprising several fish, whose figures
and natures are unlike any thing that is
regular, yet whose formation and powers have
something deserving of notice and record. A
description of the lump-fish, the sun-fish, the
fishing frog, chimera, &c. must compensate
for the want of their particular Jiistory.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &c 35

OF THE SHARK AND ITS AFFINITIES,

THIS tremendous and voracious animal
may, with great propriety, rank next to the
whale in magnitude^ as it is often found nearly
thirty feet in length, and of corresponding
weight and bulk. Its mouth and throat are
enormously wide, and capable of admitting a
human carcase ; which, we are told, has been
repeatedly found in their bellies. His head is
large and flattened ; his snout is long, and tlie
eyes large and goggHng, projecting in such a
manner as to enable him to behold his prey
on every side. But the teeth are the most
formidable part of his composition ; they con-
sist of six rows, amounting to one hundred
and forty four in number, hard, sharp- puinte.l,
and wedge-like in their form : and the crea-
ture is possessed of the singular power of erect-
ing or depre^sing them at pleasure. They
lay flat in his mouth when at rest, but by th^
TOL. IV. ' F help

54 NATURAL HISTORY

help of a set of muscles he is enabled to erect
them when he wishes to seize his prey ; on
which he can inflict a hundred Wounds at
once.

Of all the inhabitants of the deep, the shark
is certainly the fiercest ; his aspect is pecu-
liarly expressive of the malignity of his cha-
racter ; he is dreaded by the lesser tribes, nor
is he hardly less obnoxious to those that are
apparently more powerful ; for he surpasses
the whale in strength and celerity not more
than he exceeds all the rest in his insatiable ap*-
petites. His fms are larger in proportion than
those of most iUh ; and his skin is rough, hard,
aud pxickly, and of which shagreen is made
for various purposes. His powers of destruo
tion are only counterbalanced by the diffrculty
he meets with in seizing his prey ; for his
upper jaw projects so far over the lower, that
he is obliged to turn on one side in order to
accomplish his purpose; and thus afford his
affrighted victims the only probability cif
escape.

It has been obsei*ved by Mr. Pennant, that
the female in this tribe is larger than the
male; a circumstance strongly characteristic
of their nature, and forming a striking agree-
ment between them and birds of prey. But

we

©r BIRDS, FISH, kc. 55

v/e cannot so readily believe the assertions
which have been made respecting the fecun^
dity of these animals, as it militates against,
the observed rules of nature: though Belon
assures us that he saw a female shark pro-
duce eleven live young ones at a time.

However formidable this creature may be
when living, he is of little use when dead.
The negroes are said to be fond of the flesh,
which is, however, very tough and nndigesti*
ble ; the liver afibrds a few quarts of oil ; and
the skin, as we have noticed, is, though with
great labour, polished into shagreen.

Among its singularities may be reckoned
its enmity to man, or rather its love of human
flesh ; whieh when it has once tasted, it never
desists from haunting those places where i|
expects tlifi return of the prey ; along th^
coasts of Africa, where the&e animals ar^
found in great abundance, numbers of the
negroes, who, for various purposes, are obliged
to frequent these waters are seized and de-^
voured by them every year ; and it is added,
that they manifest a preference to the flesh of
black men. But though the shark may be
called a common enemy, he has no opposition
but from the human race, who have contrived
dilFerent methods to destroy him. The

F S instance

36 NATURAL HISTORY

instance of the Remora, or Sucking fish, might
perhaps be opposed to this remark, were we
convinced that the remora attends this monster
for any hostile purpose.

The shark often falls a victim to his own
rapacity, by means of the stratagems em-
ployed to take him: the method of doing
which with our English sailors is to bait a
large hook with a piece of beef or pork, and
throw it into the sea, tied by a strong cord
strengthened near the hook by an iron chain.
Without this precaution the shark w^ould
quickly bite the cord in two, and set himself
at liberty. It is amusing to observe the
struggle with temptation, even when this vo-
racious animal is not pressed by hunger. He
approaches, examines, and swims round it :
seems for a while to neglect it, as apprehen-
sive of the delusion ; but his voracity encreas-
ing, he returns as if ready to seize it, but ap-
prehension again drives him back ; thus like
a youthful sinner, he keeps agitated between
desire and fear, while the sailors continue to
divert themselves with his contending pas-
sions, till they make a pretence of drawing the
bait away, when propelled by every appetite
at once, he darts rapidly at the bait and makes
one ravenous gulp of it, hook and all.

When

or BiRi>s, risii, Sec. S7

When the hook is lodged in his inaw, his
efforts are most strenuously, though vainl}^
•exerted to get free : he endeavours to cut the
chain with his teeth ; he labours with ail his
force to break the line ; and his exertions to
disgorge the hook, aimost tuirn his stomach
inside out; until enfeebled by unsuccessful
attempts, and quite exhausted, he permits the
sailors to drag him out of his native element,
and dispatch him, which is done by repeated
and severe blows on the head.

But in dragging him on ship -board, much
caution is necessary ; for both difficulty and
danger are frequently experienced : in the
agonies of death he is terrible, and struggles
powerfully with his executioners : his head
and tail are secured and fastened at the same
time ; the latter is frequently afterwards cut
off with an axe, to prevent his flouncing, the
consequence of which might be highly dan-
gerous. And such is the degree of vitality,
or strength of the vital principle in the shark,
that he is killed w^ith more difficulty than
almost any other animal in the world : nay
when cut in pieces, the muscles still preseiTe
their motion, and vibrate for minutes after
being separated from the body.

The x\frican negroes are said to take a

bolder

5S NATURAL HISTOHr

bolder and more dangerous method of destroy-
ing this terrible enemy. With no other in-
strument than ^ long knife, he plunges into
ihe water, when he sees the shdr\<. watching
for his prey, and boldly swims forward to
meet him, who suffers his antagonist to ap-
proach ; but on turning on his side to meet
the aggressor, the negro, attentive to that opi-
portunity, plunges his knife into the fish's
belly, and pursues his blows with such suc-
cess, that he soon destroys the ravenous tyran^
who afterwards becomes a noble feast for the
adjacent neighbourhood.

Nothing that has hfe is ever rejected by
this rapacious animal ; but, as we have before
observed, human flesh seems to be his pecu-
liar grat.fication, and to afford him the high-
est relish: — of his depredations of this nature
we have many instances related by different
writers. The story of Mr. Brooke Watson,
an alderman of London, who in his youth had
his leg snapped off by one of these watery
depredators, is generally known.

Mr. Pennant tells us, that the master of a
Guinea ship, finding a rage for suicide pre-
vail among his slaves, from a notion enter-
tained by those- unhappy creatures, that after
death they should be restored again to their

family,

Of BIRDS, FISH, &C. S^

fattiily, frieiids, and country; to convince,
them that, at least, some disgrace should at-
tend them here, he ordered one of their dead
bodies to be tied by the heels to a rope, and
iSo let down into the sea ; and though it was
drawn up again with great swiftness, yet iti
that short space of time, the sharks bad bitten
off all but the feet.

Dr. Goldsmith relates a circumstance, in
IVhich the catastrophe, though somewhat
similar, was yet more terrible. A Guinea
Captain was, by stress of weather, driven into
the harbour of Belfast, in Ireland, with a
lading of very sickly slaves, who, also, took
every opportunity to throw themselves over-
board, when brought upon deck, as is usual,
for the bengfit of the fresh air. The Captain
perceiving, among others, a female slave at-
tempting to drown herself, pitched upon her
as a proper example to the rest. As he sup-
posed that thtj-y did not know the terrors at-
tending' de^th, he ordered the woman to be
tied with a rope under the arm-pits, and so
let her down into the water. When the poor
creature was thus plunged in, and about half-
way down, she was heard to give a terrible
sltrieki which was at first ascribed to her
fears^ of drowftJBg ; but soon after the water

appearing

40 NATUJIAL HISTORY

appearing red all round her, yhe was drawn
up, and it was found that a shark, which had
followed th<^j3^ip,. had bitten her oft' from the
middle. < t -:.,. :

The blue shark* One of th.is species was
caught in J 779 pn the <:oast rof Devonshire;
the skin of which, tvas §tufteQl,^and deposited
in the British Museum.

• .; Dr. Watson,' F. Ri S. gives the following
description of it. : The body: is of a fine blue
colour, dark on the back, lighter on the
sides; the fins and tail of. a dirty blue; the
belly, and all the under part of the fish white.
No orifices are to be seen behind the eyes, as
is usual with fish of this genus. Two white
membranes, one to each eye,' perform the
oiiice of eye-lids. When the head was placed
downwards, a pretty large white pouch came
out of its mouth, ^lian supposes this to
serve as an asylum to the young brood in time
of danger. We mention this opinion, as cor*
roborated by the judgment of Mr. Pennant,
who gives credit to the story, and thinks that
this fish, like the opossum, may have a place
fitted by nature for the reception of her young.
T>iuch respect is due to Mr. Pennant's opi-
nion : the fact indeed has been denied by
some writers ; but nothing, surely, is so con-
temptible

OF BIRDS, risir, &c. 41

temptible as that affectation of wisdom which
some display by universal incredulity.

Tlie fish alluded to measured six feet eight
inches, was a female, and weighed fifty-
five pounds.

The balance-fsh is chiefly distinguished by
the formation of its head, spreading on each
side into the shape of a balance: or as some
have not unaptly compared it, to the head of
a mallet, or hammer, except that it is de-
pressed, at the ends of which the eyes are
situated.

They inhabit the Mediterranean, and are
said to grow to a very great size, indeed, little
inferior to the whale : when young the colour
is uniformly yellow ; the adults have the up-
per part black, the lower white.

The saw-Jish has its nose lengthened into a
long flat gristly body, armed on each side,
with from twenty-four to twenty-seven slen-
der teeth ; the lips are covered with rouoh
hard tubercles instead of teeth ; an aperture
behind each e3^e for the discharge of water ;
two dorsal fins ; a narrow slip cut half way
down the inner side of the ventral fins ; the
end of the tail obliquely truncated ; and the
fish is about, twenty feet in length.

VOL. IV. G If.

42 NATURAL HISTORY

It inhabits all seas from Greenland to those
of the Brasils ; it is also found in those of
Africa, and of the East-Indies. Some wri-
ters have misnamed this fish, or confounded
it with the sword-fish, (which see properly-
characterised under the head xiphias, among
the spinous fish.) Anderson, Crantz, and
other writers on the natural history of Green-
land and Iceland, make it the enemy of the
seals and whales ; asserting that it eats only
the tongue of the latter, leaving the rest of
the huge carcase a prey to the morses ant)
fiea birds.

JiH)\FiJ-h.TJG.97.

y?,i,/5J//.FlG.'.)fl

Siun/«>n :F10.100.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 43

THE STURGEOK, HUSO, &C.

THE Sturgeon is a well-known, large, and
fine-tasted fish ; in its general form it resem-
bles a fresh water-pike: the delicacy and
firmness of its flesh is much admired, which
is as white as veal ; its body is as large, and
its form scarcely less terrible than the fi^^h
w^e have just described ; the sturgeon is yet
so harmless, so incapable and unwilling to in-
jure others, that it flies from the smallest fish,
and generally falls a victim to its own timidi-
ty. It is one of those fish which spend part
of their time in rivers and part in the sea ; but
it never ventures far out, usually frequent-
ing such parts as are not far from the es-
tuaries of great rivers. The most that we
receive, and generally pickled, comes either
from the Baltic rivers, or North America;
though they have been accidentally caught in
the Thames ; the largest perhaps ever caught
in Britain was one taken in the river Eske, in
Cumberland, which weighed four hundred and
G 2 sixtv

44 NATURAt HISTORY

sixty pounds. The body of this fish is formida*
ble to appearance, being furnished with five
rows of large bony protuberances, and a num-
ber of fins ; the nose is long, the mouth is
situated beneath^ small, and without jaw-
bones, or teeth.

As the sturgeon is by no means a voracious
animal, it is never caught by a bait, in the or-
dinary manner of fishing, but always in nets,
composed of small cords, and placed across
the mouth of the river, but in such a manner^
that whether the tide ebb or flow, the pouch
of the net goes with the stream. Indeed, fronv
the confornaation of its mouth, it is not pro-
bable that the sturgeon would swallow any
hook capable of holding so large a bulk, and.
^^0 stroiig a swimmer.

- They usually go up the rivers in the begin-
ning of summer to deposit their spawn, when
the fizsherraen make a regular preparation for
tjieir reception ; and though in the water they
are very strong, an<l much addicted to floun-
cing, yet wlien drawn up tliey become a life-
less, spiritless mass, and are quietly dragged
on shore.

, Great numbers are thus taken during the
smiimer mouths in the lakes, Frischehafl, and
Curisch-hall, near Pillau, at the mouth of the
\Volga, and other rivers that run into the

Caspian

OF BfRDS, FISH, &C. 45

Caspian Sea. The adjacent shores are formed
into districts, and farmed out to companies of
fiiihennen, some of which are rented at near
•three hundred a year. They are also found
in vast abundance in the American rivers, in
May, June, and July ; at which time they
leap some yards out of the water, and falling
on their sides make a noise which may be
heard, in still water, at some miles distance.
. From its quality of floundering at the bot-
tom of rivers, the sturgeon has received its
name, among the Germans, as Johnson ob-
serves, for the word stoeren signifies to wal-
low in the mud. When opened, there is sel-
dom any thing found in its stomach but a sli-
my suljstance^ whence it is obvious that it
does not live upon any large animalg. It
groves to the length of eighteen feet, and to
the weight of 500 pounds.* In the manner
of breeding, this fi»h is an exception among
the cartilaginous kind; being, like the. l)ony
ftsh, oviparous, spawning in the water. Isin-
glass is said to be sometimes made of the in-
testines of this tish, but in very small quan-
tities.

The

* Sonnini says, that they oftea attain to five and twenty
feet in length.

4(5 kAtural history

The flesh of the sturgeon, when pitkled, is
well known at all the tables in Europe ; and
is even more prized in England than in any of
the countries where it is usually caught. The
fishermen have two different methods of pre*
paring it : the one is by cutting it in long
pieces length-wise, and having salted them,
hang them up in the sun to dry : thus prepar-
ed, the fish is sold in all the countries of the
Levant, and supplies the want of better pro-
visions.

The other method, which is generally prac-
tised in Holland, and along the shores of the
Baltic-, is to cut the sturgeon cross-ways, in-
to short pieces, and put it into small barrels,
"Vvith a pickle made of salt and saumure ; and
in this manner it is generally sold in England.
There is a celebrated epicurean food prepar-
ed from the hard roe of the stuygeon, under
the appellation of caviare, formed into small
cakes. It is made by taking out of the spawn
all the nerves or strings, then washing it in
white wine, or vinegar, and spreading it on a
table ; it is then salted and pressed in a fine
bag, after which it is cased up in a vessel with
a hole at the bottom, that all the superfluous
moisture may drain off. This kind of food is
in great request among the Muscovites, on ac-
count of their three Lents ; a pretty large

quantity

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 47

quantity of it is also consumed in France and
Italy, but it seems to be sinking into disuse at
the politest English tables, wliere it wasfor-
nierly in high esteem. It is still a considerable
merchandise among the Tyrks, Greeks, and
Venetians. The best kind is said to be pre-
pared from the Belluga, a fish caught in the
Caspian Sea : and a kind of caviare, or sausage,
IS also made from the spawn of some other
fish, particularly a sort of mullet caught in
the Mediterranean.

There is another sort of sturgeon, distin^
guished, by fifteen scaly protuberances, a na-
tive of Russia, and called Buthenus, in the
technical language of Linnaeus, but is proba-
bly the caviare sturgeon of other writers.

The huso is a fish very much resembling
the sturgeon, and classed by Linn^us under
the same genus, accipenscr : it is a native of
Russia and the Danube;* the body is naked,
that is, it has no protuberances; it grows fre-
quently to twenty-four feet in length, and
the skin is so tough and strong, that it is
employed for ropes, in carts and other wheel

carriages.

♦ It is rarely found any where except in the Caspian and
Black Seas ; and it ascends only as far as the Volga, the
Danube, and the other great rivers, which empty tlieir
waters into these two seas.

A§ NATURAL HISTORY

carriages. Its flesh is soft, glutinous, and'
flabby ; but when salted acquires a better
taste, and turns red like salmon ; it is caught
from October to January, and weighs from
seventy pounds to almost four hundred ; but
it is chiefly taken for t he purpose of furnish-
ing that useful commodity isinglasSy so famous
as an agglutinating medicine, as well as for
the fining of wines, for both which uses, it
appears that this fish w^as known to the
ancients.

The art of making isinglass was long a se-
cret in the hands of the Russians; but it has
lately been discovered, and the following ac-
count of it published by Humphrey Jackson,
Esq. in the 63d vol. of the Philosophical
Transactions.

** All authors, says he, who have hitherto
delivered processes for making isinglass, have
greatly mistaken both its constituent mat-
ter and preparation.

" In my first attem pt to discover the constitu-
ent parts and manufacture of isinglass, relying
too much upon the authority of some chemicar
authors, whose veracity I had experienced in
iTiany other instances, I found myself constiintiy
disappointed. Giue, not isinglass, w^as the re-
sult of every process, and although in the same
view, a journey to Russia proved fruitless, yet

a steady

0* BIRDS, FISH, &C. 4^

fe Steady persevei'ance in the research proved
not only succcBsful as to this object, but, in
tlie pursultj to discover a resinous matter
plentifully procurable in the British fisheries,
which has been found by ample experience
to answer similar purposes.

** It is now no longer a secret that the lakes
and rivers in North America are stocked with
immense quantities offish, said to be the same
species with those in Muscovy, and yielding
the finest isinglass; the fisheries whereof^
under due encouragement, w^ould doubtless
supply all Europe with this valuable article.

*' No artificial heat is necessary to the pro*
duction of isinglass, neither is the matter dis-
solved for this purpose; for, as the continuity
of its fibres Would be destroyed by solution,
the mass would become brittle in drying, and
snap short asunder, which is always the case
With glue, but never with isinglass.

" The latter, indeed, may be resolved into
glue with boihng water; but its fibrous recom^
position would be found impracticable after-
wards, and a fibrous texture is one of the
most distinguishing characteristics of genu-
ine isinglass.

" The sounds, or air bladders, of fresh
water fish in general, are preserved for this
TOJL. lY. II purpose^,

5(^ NATURAL HISTORY

flurpose, as being the most transparent, flexi-
ble, delicate substances. These constitute the
finest sorts of isinglass ; those called book and
ordinary staple^ are made of the intestines,
and probably of the peritanaeum of the fish.
The belluga yields the greatest quantity, as
being the largest and most plentiful fish in
the Muscovy river; but the sounds of all
fresh water fish yield more or less fine isin-
glass, particularly the smaller sorts, found in
prodigious quantities in the Caspian Sea,
and several hundred miles beyond Astracan,
in the Wolga, Yoik, Don, and even as far as
Siberia, where it is called, kle or kla, by the
natives, which implies a glutinous matter;
it is the basis of the Russian glue, which is
preferred to all other kinds for its strength.

" Isinglass receives its ditferent shapes in
the following manner :

** The part of which it is composed, par-
ticularly the sounds, are taken from the fi.-h,
while sweet and fresh, slit open, washed from
dielr slimy sordeSy divested of every thin
•membrane which envelopes the sound, and
then exposed to stiffen a little in the air. In
this state they are formed into rolls about the
thickness of a finger, and in length according
to the intended size of the staple : a thin mem-
brane

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C; 51

braiie is generally selected for the centre of
the roll, ro^ind which the rest are folded al-
ternately, and about half an inch of each ex-
tremity of the roll is turned inwards. The
two dimensions being thus obtained, the two
ends of what is called short staple, are pinned
together with a small wooden peg : the middle
of the roll is then pressed a little downwards,
which gives it the resemblance of a heart
shape: and thus it is laid on boards, or hung up
in the air to dry. The sounds, which compose
the long staple, are longer than the former ;
but the operator lengthens this sort at plea-
sure, by interfolding the ends of one or more
pieces of the sound with each other. The
extremities are fastened with a peg like tlie
former, but the middle part of the roll is bent
more considerably downwards; and, in order
to preserve the shape of the three obtuse an-
gles thus formed, a piece of round stick,
about a quarter of an inch diameter, is fasten-
ed in each angle with small wooden pegs, in
the same manner as at the ends. In this
state it is permitted to dry long enough to re-
tain its form, when the pegs and sticks are
taken out, and the drying completed: lastly,
the pieces of isinglass are colligated in rows,

H2 by

l^ NATURAL HISTORY

by running packthread through the peg-hole*
for convenience of package and exportation.

" The membranes of the book sort being
thick and refractory, will not admit a similar
formation with the preceding; the pieces,
therefore, after their sides are folded inwardly^
are bent in the centre, in such a manner that
the opposite sides resemble the cover of ^,
book, from whence its name, a peg being
run across the middle, fastens the sides toge-
ther, and thus it is dried like the former. This
sort is interleaved, and the pegs run across the
ends, the better to prevent its unfolding.

" That called cake ishi glass ^ is formed of
the bits and fragments of the staple sorts, put
into a flat metalline pan, with a little water,
ftnd heated just enough to make the parts co-
here hke a pancake, when it is dried ; but
frequently it is ovtrheated, as such pieces, as
before observed, become useless in the busi-
ness of fining. Experience has taught the
consumer to reject ttiem.

" It has long been a prevalent opinion, that
sturgeon, on account of its cartilaginous na-
ture, would yield great quantities of isinglass;
but, on examination, no part of this fish, ex-
cept the inner coat of the sound, promised

tile

or niiiDS, FISH, &;c. 53

the least success. This being full of rw-
gcBy adheres so firmly to the external mem-
brane, which is useless, that the labour of
separating them supersedes the advantage.
The intestines, however, which in the larger
fish extend several yards in length, being
cleansed from their mucus, and dried, were
found surprisingly strong and elastic, resem-
bling cords made with the intestines of other
animals, commonly called cat-gut, and, from
some trials, promised superior advantages?
when applied to mechanic operations."

OF CARTILAGINOUS FISH, viz. THE RAY,
SCATE, THORNBACK, &C.

THE fish of this division, or Ray-fish, are
characterised by swimming flat in the water ;
having their eyes and mouth placed quite
vmder the body, with apertures for breath-
ing either about or near them : and by having
teethj or a rough bone answering the same

purpose.

54 KATURAL HISTORY

purpose. The tail differs materially from
other fish, being narrow and ending in a
bunch or point, and having thus a great re-
semblance to that of quadrupeds. Their
bowels are wide towards the mouth, and
gradually diminish towards the tail.

The essential distinction, however, is the
spines or prickles which they have on diffe-
rent parts of their body, or at the tail ; and
which in some are comparatively soft and
feeble, and in others strong and piercing.
Some are armed with these spines both above
and below ; others have them on the upper
part only; some have their spines on the
tail ; some have three rows of them, and
others but one. The smallest of these spines
are usually those that incline towards the tail ;
the larger towards the head.

Tiie whole of this tribe resemble each other
so much in their external form, that experi-
ence only can make any distinction ; and that
distinction consists especially in the situation
of their spines.

The ihornbacJc, or prickly ray, has its
spines disposed in three rows upon the back ; a
transverse cartilage in the belly ; the head and
body very flat and depressed ; the figure of the
body, exclusively of the tail, is nearly square;

the

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. $9

the tail long and slender, but a little depressed
or flattened ; the belly altogether plain, but
rising a littlie in the middle into a convexity ;
the eyes, which stand on the uppermost part
of the body, at a considerable distance from
the beak, are a little protuberant, and covered
with a simple naked skin ; the mouth is si-
tuated on the under side of the body, and
lies in a. transverse direction; it is verv lar^e,
and stands at the same distance from the ex-
tremity of the beak as the eyes do.

The rough-ray has its spines spread in-
discriminately over the whole back.

The sharp-nosed ray has ten spines that
are situated towards the middle of the back.

The slate has the middle of the back rough,
and a single row of spines on the tail. This
is a well-known fish, long and flat, if not
eaught before his full growth, at which period
he is from five to six feet in length. His skin
is black, and so very hard and rough, that it
is often employed in polishing wood and ivory
like the skin of a sea-dog. This fish is ex-
tremely voracious, and armed with terrible
teeth ; yet he has recourse to stratagem in
catching his living food, by concealing him-
self under the sands. The French make of
its ashes an excellent soap for a certain cuta-

neoui

*5 NATURAL HlStORY

iifeQus disease, which is generally cured ty
feulphiir, and which by them is called Savon
d' A?ige.-^V\\ny attributes to the flesh of this
fish a singular virtue, when applied fresh tcf
the necks of wonien, that of preventing them
from growing too large : it is certain it was
very much used by the Romans : and Ron*
delet, one of the first naturalists of the six-
teenth century, assures us, that he tried the
experiment with success.

Theflre-stare has but one spine, but it is a
terrible one. It is placed on the tail, about
four inches from the body, and is not less
than five inches long; of a flinty hardness,
the sides thin, sharp pointed, and closely and-
jsharply bearded the whole way.

The torpedo comes under the same genus
as the preceding, with which it certainly cor-*
responds in form, though it possesses some very
distinguishing peculiarities : it has no spines
with which it can wound : but its benumbinjs^
Qt torporific quality is one of the most po-
tent and extraordinary faculties in nature*
Such are the most marked properties of this
dangerous class ; and without a knowledge of
which, the unlucky stranger might imagine he
is only handling a skate, when he is instantly
palsied by a torpedo; or suppose that he

has

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. jj

has caught a thornback, until he is sturi;^ bv
the fire flare. Thus they are as injurious to
those who are ignorant of their qualities, as
useful to him who can distinguish their cha-
racteristics.

^ . In their use indeed they differ much, but
their vsiniilitude as to appetite and conforma-
tion is perfect and entire. Of all the larger
fish of the sea^ these are the most numerous,
and they owe their numbers to their size ; for
except the shark and cachalot, there is not
any fish that has a swallow ca]:)acious enoufrh
to take them in; and their spines, would,
make them, even to the shark, a dangerous
repast: the size also of many is such, that
even the shark himself would be unable to
devour them. Nor do they perhaps often
meet, for the same rapacity that impels the
shark along the surface of the water, actuates
the flat-fish at the bottom, where they creep
in security, and seize every thing that comes
in their way ; neither the hardest shells, nof
ihe sharpest spines, giving protection to the
animals that bear them : such is their insatiable
hunger that they devour all : and such the
force of their stomach, that it easily digests all.
Tlieir retreat is generally in such parts of
the sea as have a black muddy bottom, where
VOL. IV. I the

58 KATtTRAL HISTORY

the largest keep at the greatest depth, atid
consequently are but seldom seen; and as
they may have been growing for ages, the
extent of their magnitude must be unknown.
The Norwegian kraken, which we have al-
ready alluded to, is said to be of this class ;
and though we may suspend our assent to the
opiiiion of its being above a mile over, yet as
we know these fish to be the largest inhabit-
ants of the deep, the extravagance of the
good Bishop's suppositions does not destroy
the probability that fish of this tribe arrive at
a most enormous size^

It is well known that English fishermen
have often caught ray-fish that have weighed
above two hundred pounds : and yet that
weight is trifling, compared to their enormous
bulk in other parts of the world. Among
many instances we need only adduce the ac-
count given by Labat of a prodigious ray,
3peared by the Negroes at Guadaloupe.

" This fish, (says he) was thirteen feet
eight inches broad, and alx)ve ten feet from
the snout to the insertion of the tail, which
was itself in proportion, being no less than
fifteen feet long, twenty inches broad, at its
insertion, and tapering to a point. The body
w^as two feet in depth; the skin as thick as

leathei*.

OF ^TRDf?, FISH, kc. 69

leather, and marked with spots, which spots
in all of this kind, are only glands that supply
a mucus to lubricate and soften the skin.
This enormous fish was utterly unfit to be
eaten by Europeans ; but the Negroes se-^
lected some of the nicest bits, and carefully
salted them up as a most favourite provision.**

The ray-fish generate in May and April,
and the females are extremely prolific. No
Jess than three hundred eggs having been
taken out of the body of a single ray, covered
with a tough horny substance, which they
acquire in the womb, by the concretion of
the fluids of that organ. When come to
maturity, they are excluded, only one at a
time, at intervals of three or four hours.
These eggs, or purses, as the fishermen call
them, are usually cast about the beginning of
May, and they continue casting most part of
the summer.

During the time of their feeling the oestrum,
they are often seen swimming near the surface
of the water, and several of the males pursu-
ing one female : and so fast do they adhere
in coition, that the fishermen frequently draw
up both together, though only one has been
hooked.

When the breeding time ceages^ which is
I 2 abou|

00 NATURAL HISTORY

about October, they become very poor and
thin ; but they soon begin to recover, and
gradually increase in goodness until the fol-
lowing May, when they reach the highest
state of perfection.

The Dutch fishermen, who are indefatiga-
ble in their pursuits, begin their opemtions
\'ery early in the winter, in which the English
follow them, but seldom with equal success.
The method is by lines, and is certainly fa-
tiguing and dangerous ; but the value of the
capture generally repays the pain. The skate
and thornback are very marketable articles,
good food, and their weight is from ten to
two hundred pounds weight.

The fit^hei men however are often incommo-
ded by very troublesome visitors; namely by
the rough ray, the fire-tlare, the sea-devil, and
the torpedo ; to all of which tliey have, wdth
good reason, the most mortal antipathy;
though in spite of every caution, they some-
times feel the dangerous resentments of this
vindictive tribe. Of these the rough-ray is
certainly the least pernicious; and a stranger
would take it in his hand without any appre-
hension; though he would soon be convinced
that there is no way of seizing the animal but
by the little fm at the end of the tail : as there

is

OF Bl/.D?, riSH, &C. CI

^s not a single part of its bod\^ that is not
armed witli spines, which infUct numberless
wounds.

. But the fire-flare is the dread of the most
experienced and boldest fishermen. We have
described its offensive weapon, which grows
from the tail, barbed, and about five inches in
length ; an instrument not less dreadful to
modern than to ancient fishermen, who have
delivered many tremendous fables of its ex-
traordinary effect.

-The antient naturalists have not been less
prolix on this subject: Pliny has supplied it
with a venom that affects even the inanimate
creation : — " trees that are struck by it in-
stantly lose their verdure ; and rocks them-
sdves are incapable of resisting the potent
poison. . The enchantress Circe armed her son
with a spear headed with the spine of the
trygon, as the most irresistible weapon she
could furnish him with : a weapon that was
to be soon after the death of his father."

The wound that is inflicted by an animars
tail has, no doubt, something terrible in the
idea, and may from thence alone be supposed
to be fatal : terror might add poison to the
pain, and call up imaginary danger: hence
the Negroes universally believe that the sting

is

C2 NATURAL HISTORY

is poisonous : yet they never die in conse-
quence of the wound, and the simplicity of
the remedy sufficiently argues the innoxious-
ness of the wound ; for by opening the fish,
and laying it to the part injured, it effects a
speedy cure. Hence there is sufficient cause to
reject its venomous qualities, notwithstanding
the assertions of most of the fishermen, and
the opinion of some men of learning: the
spine of the ray seems in fact to be a weapon
of offence, capable of inflicting a very terrible
wound, and attended with dangerous symp-
toms ; but not possessed of any degree of
poison. The spine has no sheath to preserve
the supposed venom on its surface ; nor has the
animal any gland that separates the noxious
fluid. It is fjxed to the tail as a quill is into the
tail of a fowl, and is annually shed in the
same manner: it may therefore be necessary for
the creature's defence, but cannot be neces-
sarv for its existence.

Spears and darts, says Mr. Pennant, might,
in very early times, have been headed with the
spine of the fire-flare, instead of iron. The
Americans even at present head their arrows
with the bones of fish, and from their hard-
ness and sharpness they are no inconsiderable
weapons.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 63

THE TORPEDO.*

WE have already mentioned this creature
in the division of Cartilaginous flat-fish ; but
its celebrity among both ancient and modern
naturalists, arises from a remarkable numb-
ness with which it strikes the arm of those
that touch it Its external appearance agrees
■with that of the ray-fish in general, and much
resembles the thomback. It is usually found
upon the coasts of Provence, Gascon}', &c. m
France, (as well as by our own fishermen)
where the people eat it without any danger.

The body of the torpedo is almost circular,
and thicker than others of the ray kind ; the

skirt

* Among the ancients, Hippocrates is the first who
mentions the torpedo, but he does not take any notice of
the effect produced upon those who touch it. Yet, Plato,
who was almost contemporary with Hippocrates, knew this
electrical property of the torpedo, for, in a dialogue he
makes Socrates say, " you have confounded me with your
objections, like the torpedo, a flat sea-fish, does those who
touch it." Aristotle, B. ix. C/i. hi. Hist. An. says, that
■when the torpedo wishes to seize any fish, they conceal
themseWes in the sand or mud, and numb those that pass
above them. The Abyssinians make a singular use of the
torpedo in curing fevers. They tie the patient tight upon
a table, and therr apply several of these fish successively to
all his members : this operation gives dreadful pain, but it
usually cures the fevct.

6'i NATURAL lltSTORY

skin is soft, sraootli, and of a yellowish colour,-
marked as are all the kind, with large annular
spots: the tail tapering to the point; and the
weight of the fish from a quarter to fifteen
pounds. Rhedi mentions one, which he
found, weighing twenty-four pounds*

Upon touching the torpedo with the finger,
it frequently, though not always, happens, that
the person feels an unusual pain and numbness,
which suddenly seizes the arm up to the elbow,
and sometimes to the very shoulder, or head.
The pain is of a very particular nature,
and not to be described by words : yet Loren-
gini, Berelli, Rhedi, and Rheaumur, who all
felt it severel}^ say that it bears some resem-
blance to that painful sensation felt in the arm
upon striking the elbow violently against a hard
body; the latter how'ever observes that this
gives but a very faint idea of it.

Its chief force is at the instant it begins ; it
lasts but a few moments, and then vanishes
entirely. If a man do not actually touch the
torpedo, how near soever he holds his hand,
he feels nothing: — if he touch it with a stick,
he feels a faint effect : — if he touch it through
the interposition of any tolerably thin body,
the numbness is felt very considerably : if the
hand be pressed very strong against it, the
numbness is less, but still strong enough to
oblige a man speedily to let go.

Rheaumur

OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC, 63

Rheautnur accounts for the phenomena of
the torpedo in this manner : the torpedo, hke
other flat fish, is not absolulely flat; but its
back j or rather all the upper parts of its bod}-,
a little convex : when it did not, or would not
produce any numbness in such as touched itj
its back, he found, alvvays preserved its na-
tural convexity ; but whenever it would dis-
pose itself to resent a touch, or thrust, it gra-
dually diminished the convexity of the back
parts of the body, sometimes only rendering
them flat, and sometimes even concave.

The very next moment the numbness al-
w^ays begins to seize the arm ; the lingers
that touched were obliged to give back, and
all the flat and concave part of the body was
seen again convex ; and tho' it only became
flat insensibly, yet it returned to its convexity
so swiftly that one could not perceive any
passage from the one to the other state.

The motion of a ball out of a musket is
not perhaps much quicker than that of the
fish reassuming its situation ; at least the one
is not more perceivable than the other. It is
from this sudden stroke that the numbness of
the arm arises, and accordingly the person,
when he begins to feel it, imagines that his
fingers have been violently struck. " Jt is the

VOL. IV. K MLELH

^6 KATURAL HISTORY

MERE VELOCITY of the Stroke that produces
the numbness.'' This assertion we shdll how-
ever presently shew to be ill founded. Rheau-
mur adds, that the single stroke of a soft
body could never effect this ; but in the pre-
sent case there is an infinity of strokes given
in an instant.

To explain this admirable mechanism, we
must give a view of the parts whereon it de-
pends, which consist of two very singular
muscles, called by Rhedi and Lorenzini, the
musculi salcati ; their form is that of crescents,
and they take up together almost half the
back of the fish, the one on the right side,
and the other on the left ; their origin is a
little above the mouth, and they are separa-
ted from each other by the bronchia, into the
last of which they have their insertions.
What is singular in them is their fibres, if we
may give that name to a sort of smaller mus-
cles, as big as goose quills, of which the two
great muscles are formed.

These lesser muscles are hollow C3^1inders,
their length nearly equal to the thickness of
the fish, and ranged parallel with each other,
all perpendicular to the upper and lower sur-
faces of the fish, accounting these surfaces a*
nearly parallel planes.

The

OF BIRDS, FISH, &;C. 67

The exterior surface of each of these cylin-
ders consists of whitish fibres, whose directioa
is the same with that of the cylinder,
forming a kind of tube, the cavity of which is
full of a soft matter of the colour and consist
tence of pap, divided into twenty-five, or
thirty different little masses, by so many
partitions parallel to the base of the cylinder ;
these partitions are forrned of transverse fibres ;
so that the whole cylinder is in some measure
composed of twenty-five, or thirty cylinders
placed over each other, and each full of a me-
dullary substance,

We need only notv*^ remember, continues
Rheaumur, that when the torpedo is ready to
strike its numbness, it slowly flattens the
outer surface of its upper part, and the whole
mechanism, on w^hich its force depends, will
be apparent. By that gradual contraction it
bends, as it were, all its springs, renders all
its cylinders shorter, and at the same aug-
ments their bases. But the contraction being
made to a certain degree, the springs again
unbend ; and if a finger then touch the torpe-
do, it instantly receives a stroke which shakes
the nerves, suspends, or changes the course of
the animal spirit :-«or, if the idea be more
distinct, these strokes produce an undulatory
^notion in the fibres of the nerves, which

K 3 clashes,

6s NATURAL HISTORY

clashes, or disagrees, with what they should
have in order to move the arm ; and hence
the inability we are under of using the same,
and the painful sensation which accompanies
it. Hence also the torpedo does not convey
its numbness to any degree except when
touched on these great muscles ; so that the

fish is very safely taken by the tail, which is
the part by which the fishermen catch it.
^^ Lorenzini and others have endeavoured to
account for the effect of the torpedo from tor-
porifie effluvia ; this Rheaumur objects to
with a variety, of ingenious arguments ; and
particularly observes, that the torpedo con-
veys its numbness to the hand through a hard
solid body, but does not do it through the air.
Such are the ingenious hypotheses of
Rheaumur, from whose experiments, how-
ever, it is pretty evident, that it is not neces^
sary, but hy an effort^ that the torpedo numbs
the hand of him that touches it ; but his in-
ference cannot so well be admitted, that the
whole of this animaKs exertions arise from
the greatness of the blow which the fingers
receive at the time they are struck. The
stroke is no doubt powerful ; but it is well
known that a blow though never so violent
on the points of the fingers, diffuses no

numbness

OF BIRl)S, FISH, &C. 69

iiumbnp.ss over the whole body ; nor indeed,
however painful, will it reach beyond the fin-
gers themselves. Blows, to cause numbness,
must be a})plied to some great leading nerve,
or to a large surface of the body.

The most probable solution that has been
attempted of this extraordinary phenomenon,
is the supposition that the shock proceeds
from an animal electricity with which this fish
abounds, or which it has some hidden power
of storing up, and producing on its most ur-
gent occasions. From what Kempfer re-
lates, as w'ell as b}^ all other accounts, the
shock received most resembles the stroke of an
electrical machine ; sudden, tinkling, and
painful : the shocks are entirely similar, the du-
)^tion of the pain is the same: yet still it exceeds
all human knowledge how the electric matter
is originally procured, how the animal con-
trives to renew the charge, or how it is pre-
vented from evaporating on contiguous bodies.

*' The instant, says Kempfer, I touched it
" with my hand, I felt a terrible numbness
" in my arm, and as far. up as my shoulder.
** Eveh if one treads upon it w^ith the shoe on,
" it affects not only the leg, but the whole
*' thigh upwards. Those who touch it with

** their

^0 NATURAL HISTORY

** their foot are seised with a stronger palpita-

" tion than even those who touch it with the

** hand. This numbness hears no resem-

** blance to that which we feel when a nerve

" is a long time pressed, and the foot is said

" to be asleep ; it rather appears like a sud-

" den vapour, which passing through the pores

** in an instant, penetrates to the very

** springs of life, from whence it diffuses it-

" self over the whole body, and gives

•* real pain. The nerves are so affected,

•* that the person struck imagines all the bones

** of his body, and particularly those of the

•* limb that received the blow, are driven out

•* of joint. x\ll this is accompanied with

*' an universal tremor, a sickness of the sto-

** mach, a general convulsion, and a total sus-

•* pension of the faculties of the mind.

** In short, continues Kempfer, such is the
•* pain, that all the force of our promises and
•' authority could not prevail upon a seaman
*' to undergo the force of a shock a second time,
•* A negro, indeed, that was standing by,
«* readily undertook to touch the torpedo, and
** was seen to handle it without feeling any of
" its effects. He informed us, that his whole
** secret consisted in keeping in his breath :
•* and we found, upon trial, that this method

* * answered

OF BIRDS, FISH, kc. ^1

•' answered with ourselves." — In this matter,
however, Kempfer was mistaken ; succeed-
ing experience has abundantly proved, that
holding in the breath no way guards against
the violence of the shock : and those who de-
pend on such an antidote may be very painful-
ly undeceived.

The baneful powers of this fish are known
to decline with its vigour ; as its strength
ceases, the force of the shock seems to dimi-
nish, till at last, when the fish is dead, the
whole power is destroyed, and it may be
handled or eaten with perfect security.
Wiien first taken out of the sea, its force is
very great, and not only affects the hand,
but even if touched with a stick, the person
sometimes feels himself affected. This latent
power is said to be more extensive in the fe-
male than the male.

But as every phenomenon, not readily ac-
counted for, is generally swelled into the
marvellous, so we must not believe the torpo-
rific influence to be extended to the degree
that some would have us believe ; as reach-
ing the fishermen at the end of the line, or
numbing the fish in the same pond. — Gedig-
nus, in his histor}^ of Abyssinia, carries this qua-
lity to a most ridiculous excess ; for he tells us
of one of these that was put into a basket with

some

72 NATURAL HISTORY

$ome dead fish, and that the next morning the
people to their utter astonishment perceived,
that the torpedo had actually numhed the
dead fish into life again.

"Were the only use that the torpedo makes
of its faculty the saving itself from the fi:iher-
men, as some have supposed, it wrould signi-
iy but little, for it very rarely escapes their
hands. Most naturalists, therefore, agree,
that it likewise serves it for the purpose of
catching other fish ; and that it is generally
found on banks of sand, ^c. probably to sen^e
it as a foundation or support for the exerting
its faculty.

INI. Rheaumur had no fish alive to see what
the torpedo would do to them ; but he tried
it on an animal approximating to a fish, viz.
a drake; which being shut up awhile in
water with the fish, was taken out dead ;
doubtless from its too frequent contacts with
the torpedo.

Time and observation have discovered that
more fish than this of the ray kind possess this
numbing or torporific quality. They are said
to be shaj)ed like a mackerel, except that the
head is much larger; and, ^.ccoiding to Atkins
and Moore, are found in great abundance along
the coast of Africa : but their powers seetn to

diUer

OP BIRDS, FISH, &C# 73

differ in some respects. Moore obsciTes,
" that there was no naan in the company that
*' could bear to keep his hand upon this animal
" the twentieth part of a minute, it gave him
" so great pain ; but upon taking the hand
" away, the numbness went off, and all was
" well again. This numbning quality continued
" in the torpedo even after it was dead ; and its
** very skin was possessed of this extraordinary
** power till it became dry." This circum-
stance sutficienti}' proves that the fish he
speaks of, must be some other, as it could not
possibly take place with the ray torpedo.

Condamine (says Dr. Goldsmith) informs us
of a fish possessed of the powers of the tor-
pedo, and of a shape resembling the lamprey in
every respect. This animal, if touched by the
hand, or even with a stick, instantly benumbs
the hand and arm to the very shoulder, and
sometimes the man fails down under the blow.
These animals therefore must affect the ner-
vous system in a different manner from the
others, both in regard to manner and intention ;
but how this effect is wrought, is an opera-
tion that at present remains m obscurity.

M. du Hamel, in his History of the Acade-
my of Sciences, mentions a kind of torpedo,
or torporific animal, which he compares to
congor eels. M. Richer, who furnished Du
Ham el with the account, alhrms, on his own
VOL. IV, L knowledge.

74 NATURAL HISTORY

knowledge, that they numb the arm strongly,
when touched with a staff, and that their
effects even produce vertigos.

This torporific eel has been recently men-
tioned by Dr. Bancroft, in his Natural History
of Guiana, in South America, who states th©
following circumstances respecting it.

** If the torporific eel is caught with a hook
*' and line, the person that holds the line feels
*' a shock like that of electricity.

" If a person who touches it with a rod holds
*' the hand of another person — that person of
** a third — and so on to a dozen, a violent
*' shock will be felt by all at the same instant.

" If a person holds his finger in the water at
** the distance often feet from the fish, he will
** receive a violent shock at the moment when
** the fish is touched by another person.

*' If the fish is enraged, and puts his head
** above water, and the hand of a person comes
*' within five or six inches of it, he will feel a
*' shock,nearly thesameasifhehad touched it."*

* The torpedo is white underneath-, but the colour of
the upper part varies according to age, sex, and climate.
Sometimes this colour is of a light brown, and sometimes
reddish j sometimes it has only one shade, and at others a
great number of spots. More generally there are five of
these spots on the back, very large and round, and disposed
like the five angles of a pentagon, generally of a deep blue
colour, surrownded sometimes with a black circle, somelimeg
with a white one, and sometimes with both these circles
placed one within the other^ and sometimes without anf
circle at all.

OFBlRDSj FISH, &C. 7i5

sp

THE LAMPREY.

THIS fish is of a lighter colour and of a
more clumsy make than the eel, which how-
ever, it much resembles in its general appear-
ance : but its mouth has a greater likeness to
that of a leech than an eel, being round, and
placed rather obilquely below the end of the
nose. The animal has also a hole on the top
of the head, through which it spouts water
like the cetaceous tribe- On each side are
seven holes for respiration ; and the fins are
formed rather by an elongation of the skin,
than any set of bones or spines for that
purpose.

Natumlists distinguish between the lampein
and the lamprey ; the former is said to have a
single row of little teeth in the verge of its
mouth, besides the lower large ones, It grows
to about a foot and a half, though most of those
usually caught are under that standard.-^r-The
latter has about twenty rows of teeth, and
grows to two feet and a half, or more ia
length,

L ^ MuraltQ.

76 NATURAL HISTORY

Muralto, in his very minute description of
this animiii, makes no mention of lungs : — ryet
from some peculiarity in its formation, the
lamprey generally swims as near as possible
to the surface ; and it might easily be drowned
by being forcibly kept under water for a con-
siderable time. The absolute necessity it is
under of breathing in the air, must convince
the attentive observer that it really has lungs;
and it is very probable that two red glands
tissued with nerves, (described by Muralto a§
lying towards the back of the head) are no
other than the lungs of the animal.

The lamprey usual I3* leaves the sea the be^
ginning of spring, in order to spawn, and after
a stay of a few months, returns to it again.
The species know^n among us is differently
estimated according to the season in which it
is caught, or the place where it has been fed.
The best season for them is the months of
March, April, and May ; and they are usually
taken in nets with salmon, and sometimes in
baskets at the bottom of the river.

Those that leave the sea to deposit their
spawn in fresh waters, are the best ; those that
are entirely bred in our rivers, and that have
pever been to sea, are considered as much in-
ferior to the former. Such as are caught after

they

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C: 7f

they have cast their spawn, are found to be
flabby, and of little value, and particularly so
at the approach of hot weather. In many
parts of Ireland the people will not venture to
touch them. Those caught in the Severn are
considered as the most delicate of all other
fish whatever : and it has been an old custom
for the city of Glocester to present the King
annually with a lamprey-pie; and as the gift
is made at Christmas, the difficulty of pro-
curing a sufficient quantity is so very great,
that the corporation liave sometimes been
obliged to purchase them at a guinea a
piece.

The Lamprey was in high demand among
our forefathers : So late as the reign of Henry
V. we find that a specific power was granted
to two persons to buy, take, and provide all
the live lampreys they could, in or out of the
Seine, between Rouen and Harfleur ; and to
two others the like power between Lislebon
and Harfleur, so that it should seem Henry V.
was not afraid of the ill effects of eating this
fish which cost Henry I. his life.

One quality with which this fish is endued
deserves notice, namely, its peculiar adhesive-
iiess ; for as its mouth is formed very much
like that of the leech, so the lamprey, like that

creature.

7S KAT0RAL HISTORr

creature, has the property of sticking close,
and sucking any body it is applied to. Such
is their extraordinary power of adhesion to
stones, that we are told of one which weighed
but three pounds, and yet it stuck so firmly to
a stone of twelve pounds, that it remained
suspended at its mouth, from which it was
separated with diihculty.
. NaturaHsts ascribe this wonderful power of
suction in the animal, to its exhausting the air
within its body by the hole over the nose,
while the 'mouth is closely fixed to the object,
permitting no air to enter. If this be really
the cause, the weight which the fish will be
able to sustain may pretty accurately be deter-
mined ; for it will be equal to the weight of at
column of air of the same diameter as the
mouth of the fish.

The power of adhesion in the lariiprey may
also perhaps be somewhat increased by that
glimy substance with which its body is all
over smeared ; a substance that serves equally
to preserve its ^un soft and pliant, and to
keep it in a proper degree of warmth in the
watery element. Two lymphatic glands,
extending on each side from the head to the
tail, serveto separate this mucus, and furnish
it in great abundance.

Th^

or BIRDS, FISH, &C. 79

The lamprey has no other intestines than
one great bowel, running from the mouth to
the vent, wide in the middle, but narrow at
both ends.

The simplicity of the lamprey's appetite
perfectly corresponds with that of its confor-
mation; for its food seems to be either slime
and water, or such small water insects as are
scarcely perceivable. When it comes into
our rivers, it is hardly perceived to eat any
thing ; though in its native element, the sea,
perhaps its appetite may be more active.

The preparation made by the lampreys for
spawning is a remarkable circumstance in
their natural history. Previously to their de-
positing their spawn, they make holes in the
gravelly bottom of rivers; and if they meet
with a stone of considerable magnitude, their
power of suction is highly serviceable, and
successfully exerted in removing and throwing
it out. Like other flat fish, the lampreys are
produced from eggs, but are not, like most
others, left to chance for their maturation ;
for the female remains near the place where
they are excluded, and continues with them
until they come forth. One single brood is
the extent of the female*s fertility ; and ac-
cording to Rondoletius, she may be frequently

seen

so NATURAL HISTORY

seen pla3nng about them ; and after some time
she conducts them in triumph back to the
ocean, at least such as have sufficient strength
for that purpose ; the remainder continue in
the fresh water until they die, or are caught ;
but their flavour never equals that of such of
them as have undergone a sea-voyage.

The existence of the lamprey is of very
short duration : — after cai^ting her eggs, she
becomes flabby and exhausted, appears pre-
maturely old, and two years generally put a
termination to her natural life.

That the lamprey v^^as the name* of a fish in
high esteem among the ancients, is a circum-
stance pretty generally known ; as well as that
there is a species of the lamprey served up as
one of the greatest dainties among the modern
Romans : whether theirs be the mureua of
the ancients, is not easily to be ascertained ;
but that our lamprey is not, needs no argument
to prove. The lamprey of the Itahans agrees
with the ancient fish, in being kept in ponds,

and

* Gesner and Aldrovandu? think that the Latin word
lampetra c.ome=^ from a'n'tis, -which, in Greek, signifies a
smooth, slippery body, tliat escapes from the hand, whence
proceeds the word alaba^Uvm., signifying the Kost polished
marble. There are nine different species of this fish.

OV BIRDS, FISH, ^0* $1

#

and considered by the luxurious as a very
great delicacy.

An anecdote recorded by the Roman writers,
as it relates to the fish whose history we have
just given, may be not improperly repeated
here. A senator of rank had attained to very
great celebrity for his taste in good eating,
and the hixury of his table : his fith in particu-
lar were distinguished for flavour and feeding:
Augustus became his guest, and found that
fame had done justice to his merits — his lam^
preys were indeed of excellent taste. The
Jimperor was desirous to know by what means
he gave them so fine a relish : the epicure was
happy to instruct the Emperor, and told him,
" that it was his custom to throw into his
pond such of his slaves as had at any time dis^
pleased him." Augustus did not admire the
recipe — for he instantly ordered all the man's
ponds to be filled up ; and perhaps many of
our readers would not be sorry could we have
informed them that the owner had been
thrown in with the rest of the rubbibh.

VOL. IV. M

82 NATURAL HISTORY

ANOMALOUS CARTILAGINOUS FISH.
THE SEA ORB.

OF this unshapely and extraordinary crea-
ture, there are several varieties : some threaten
only with their spine; others are defended
with a bony helmet that covers the head;
some with a coat of mail from the head to the
other extremity ; and others again armed
offensively and defensively with bones and
spines. Their armour is in all cases formida-
ble, and the greater number of them are veno-
mous in their nature, as fatal experience has
proved. In general we know so little of them
besides their figure, that naturalists are not
agreed what station they ought to hold in the
scale of fish: — their deformity, however, is
obvious; and the distance at which they are
placed from us, being chiefly found in the
Oriental or American seas, has, possibly, been
the reason why a more critical examination of
ihem has not taken place*

The

OP- BIRDS, FISH, &C. 83

The general characteristics of this creature
are, its figure almost round ; its mouth like a
frog, and being from seven inches to two feet
long. It is. covered with long thorns, which
point on every side ; and when the animal is
enraged, it can blow up its body as round as
a bladder.

The Centriscus includes two species ; one
having its back covered with a smooth bony
shell, which ends in a sharp spine, under
which is the tail. It is a native of the East-
Indies. The other, which is found in the
Mediterranean, has a rough scabrous body,
and a straight extended tail. In both, the
head gradually ends in a narrow snout; the
aperture is broad and flat; the belly keel^
formed, and the belly-fms united, It wounds
with its fins.

The Ostracion Cornutus is found in the In?-
dian Ocean ; it has a long spine in front of
each eye, and one on each side the vent, point-
ing to the tail ; the body quadrangular, reti-
culated with a raised line; the tail very long.

The Five-spined Coney Fish is also sup-
posed to be an inhabitant of the Indian Ocean.
The body is triangular, and reticulated by
sunk lines into hexangular and heptangular
ineshes, each bound a little within the line by
M 2 a black

S4 NATUftAt HlStOnV

a black Stripe ; before each eye a short strong
spme; a third on the middle of the back, and
one on each side the belly near the vent; the
body from the vent to the tail covered with a
soft smooth skin; the tail round at the end.

It is probable that this genus has the power
of drawing the defenceless parts under the
bony coat of the body at the approach of
danger It seems necessary that the parts of
the body to Avhich the fins are attached ^
should be covered with a pliable skin, espe^
Cially that part of the body near the tail ; as
fish move forward less with the assistance of
their fins, than by the motion of their body
sideways ; which is exemplified in the com-
mon method of impelling a cock- boat, by
moving sideways an oar at the helm.

The Old Wife, Ostracion bicaudalis, a native
of the above sea, is of a triangular body, the
back sharp ; the bony coat on the head and
body divided by striae into many hexangular
meshes: the areas rough with numerous gra-
nules, rang-ed in concentric lines ; the skinny
cover of the body near the tail, and tail fin,
marked with largish spots ; a strong spine on
each side the belly, pointing towards the tail.

A fish, apparently the same as above, except
that it has an oval crust upon its tail, is men-
tioned

OF BIRDS, nsii, kc. 85

tloned among the rarities preserved in Gre-
sham College.

Variety prevails equally in the size as in
the figure of these animals ; some are not
bigger than a foot-ball, and others as large as
a bushel ; and when enraged can inflate to a
considerable degree, and become as round as a
globe. They can flatten and erect their spines
at pleasure, and increase the terrors of their
appeamnce in proportion to the approach of
danger : — for on being provoked, or alarmed,
the body that before seemed small, swells to
the view, the animal visibly increases in size,
its prickles stand erect, and threaten the in-
vader on every side.

These animals are often caught by the
Americans, merely for the barren pleasure of
destroying them. They bait a line and hook
with a piece of sea crab, which the ostracion
approaches with flattened spines ; but on
feeling its mistake, rage takes possession of
the creature, the spines become erect, and it
is effectually armed at all points; that no one
dare venture to lay hold of it, but they drag
it to some distance from the water, where it
soon expires.

There is a kind of bag or bladder filled with
air, found in the belly of most of these animals,

by

8(> KATURAL HISTORY

by the inflation of which the animal swells
itself in the manner above-mentioned.

The figure of the Sea Orb, and all its spe-
cies is so very abhorrent, that scarce any one
would wish to experience them as food, in
which case> however, they are absolutely
poisonous. The natives of those countries,
where they are found, humanely and carefully
inform strangers of their danger: — yet the ad-
monition was lost upon a certain sailor at the
Cape of Good Hope, who not relying on what
the Dutch had told him, concerning the veno-
mous quality of the fish, was resolved to make
the experiment, and break through a prejudice
which he supposed was founded on the ani-
mal's deformity. He tried and eat one, but
his rashness cost him his life ; he instantly fell
sick, and died a few days after.

OF BIRD?, nsH, &c, 87

TKE BALISTES.*

THIS name is given as a general one to se-
veral fish that dificr much in their characteris-
tics; and the most remarkable of which we
shall enumerate. The general chaiacters are,
that the head is flat, there are eight teeth on
each side, and the two anterior ones are
longest: in place of giils, the balistes has an
aperture immediately above the pectoral fms;
the body is flat, the scales are joined together
by the skin, and the belly is keeled.

The Unicorn Fish fMonoceros) whose head
consists but of one ray ; Catesby informs us
that the guts of this fish are full of small shells,
and corahne substances, which, by the strength
and hardness of its jaws, it is enabled to grind
very small. They mostly frequent those seas
among the Bahama Islands, where the corals

are

* Of this fish there are twenty-eight species enumerated

88 NATURAL HISTORY

are in greatest plenty. These fish are not
eaten being accounted poisonous.

The Long File Fish, described by Walcot;
The body not very deep ; the skin divided
by smooth furrows with small rough scale-
like spaces :— each of these on the sides have
a small spine pointing towards the tail ; the
first dorsal fin has three spines, the first of
which is very large and rough in front, like a
file, and hence the English name; the third
very short, and situated at a considerable dis«-
taoce from the other two ; the skin of the back
and belly at the base of the dorsal and anal
fme drawn out and compressed; pectoral fine
small ; dorsal and anal fins triangular, and
situate nearly opposite each other; the tail
even at the end.

The first dorsal fin of this fish is possessed
of a singular property ; — namely, that no force
can depress the first spine, but if the last be
depressed in ever so gentle a manner, the
otbertwo immediately fall down with it; a»d
as instantaneously as when a cross-bow is let
off by pulling the trigger. One sort, found in
the Mediterranean, near Rome, is on that ac^
count called Pesce Balestra, i, e. the Cross
Bow Fish.

Walcot

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 89

Walcot also mentions another species, the
body of which is much compressed and deep ;
the rays of the first dorsal fin spiny ; the
first ray very long and rough ; first dorsal fin
and the back from its base black ; rest of
the body and the head a golden yellow ; skin
rough ; tail rough ; and in the place of each
ventral fin a long rough spine.

A species, named Hispidus by naturalists,
is found in Carolina ; the head fin is not ra-
diated, and there is a round black spot in the
tail fin. The body is rough, and bristly to-
wards the tail. The spine or horn is situated
between the eyes ; and instead of a belly fin
it has a jagged sharp spine.

Several more species or varieties, are found
in the Indian Ocean, and at Ascension Island.

SEA-HORSE : HIPPOCAMrUS.

This creature resembles more a great ca-
terpillar than a fish : the head bends down
towards the belly, cuid from its form gives
VOL. IV. N name

,ipO NATURAL HISTORY

name to the animal, which never exceeds
nine inches in length, and is about as thick
as a man's thumb.

The whole body seems to be composed of
cartilaginous rings, on the intermediate mem-
Jiranes of which several prickles are placed.-^
The snout is a kind of tube, with a hole at
the bottom, to which there is a cover that
the animal can open and shut at pleasure.
Pehind the eyes are two fins that look like
ears ; and above theni are two holes that
gerve for respiration. The tail generally
curls downward ; along the ridges are a,
row qf tubercles ; the whole animal is speck-*
led ; and while alive it is said to have hair on
the fore part of its bpdy, which fulls off when
it is dead.

One species of this fish is common in the
Mediterranean and Western Ocean ; but in
place of tubercles has short spines.

Another species, smooth, and without
spots, is found in the streights of Sunda, in
the East Indies.

The ancients considered this creature as
extremely venemous :'-«»an opinion arising
probably from the singularity of its figure. —
** On the sea coast, near Pozzuoli, in Italy,
** says a modern traveller, are found certain
** little dried animals, called CavalH Marini,

** about

OF BiftDS, FiSri, &G. Dl

" about the length of one's thumb ; its head
'* resembles a horse's, and its body termi-
" nates in a tail like that of a shrimp. The
"the ladies make use of them to encrease
" their milk."

THE PIPE FISH,

THE thickest part af this animal's body
does not exceed that of a swan-quill, while
its length is above sixteen inches. The body
is angular, but the angles not beitig vety
sharp, are not discernible until the fish is
dried.

It is viviparous ; for on crushing one that
was just taken, hundreds of very minute
young ones were observed to crawl about.
The general colour of the creature is an olive
brown, marked with numbers of bluish lines,
pointing from the back to the belly.

N 2

9- NATURAL HISTORY

THE SUCKER.

THIS genus, according to Linnaeus, in-
cludes three species :— The head is obtuse,
and furnished with saw teeth ; there are four
rays in the gills : and the belly fins are con-
nected together in an orbicular lump.

The Lnmpusy or lump fish, grows to the
length of nineteen inches, and weighs seven
pounds. The shape of the body is like that of
the bream, deep and very thick, and it swims
edgeways. The back is sharp and elevated ;
the belly flat, and of a bright crimson colour.
Along the body there runs several rows of
sharp bony tubercles, and the whole skin is
covered with small ones. The pectoral fins
are large and broad, almost uniting at their
base.

Beneath these is the part by which it ad-
heres to rocks, &c. It consists of an oval

aperture

OF BIRDS, risii, &c. 93

aperture surrounded with a fleshy, muscular,
and obtuse soft substance, edged with many
small threaded apendages, which are like so
many claspers. The tail and vent- fins are
purple. By means of this part it adheres with
vast force to any thing it pleases.

As a proof of its tenacity, it has been
known, that in flinging it, when just caught,
into a pail of water, it fixed itself so firmly to
the bottom, that on taking it by the tail, the
the whole pail by that means was lifted,
though it held some gallons, without once
making the fish quit its hold.

These fish resort in multitudes during
spring to the coast of Sutherland, near the
Ord of Caithness, in Scotland. The seals
which swarm beneath, prey greatly upon
them, leaving the skins, numbers of which
thus emptied, float ashore at that season.

It is easy to distinguish the place where the
seals are devouring this or any other unctuous
fish, by a smoothness of the water immedi-
ately above the spot. This fact is now estab-
lished ; it being an ascertained property of
oil to still the agitation of the waves, and ren-
der them smooth.

Great numbers of lump fish are found in
the Greenland seas^ during the months of

April

04 NATURAL tiUfORt'

Apvil and May, when they resort to spawn.
Their roe is remarkably large, which the
Greenlanders boil to a pulp and eat. They
are extremely fat, an additional recommenda-
tion to the natives, who admire all oily food.
They call them nipisets, or cat-fishy and take
quantities of them during the season.

The lump-fish is sometimes eaten in Eng-
land, being stewed like the carp.

The lesser Sucking-fish is found in differ-
ent parts of the British Seas. It is abaut four
inches in length ; the skin without scales,
slippery, and of a dusky colour. It has also
an apparatus for adhering to stones and rocks
like the former.

The Liparis takes the name of sea-snail
from the soft and unctuous texture of its
body, resembling that of the land-suail. It is
almost transparent, and soon dissolves and
melts away. It is found in the sea near the
mouths of great rivers, and has been seen fuU
of spawn in January. The length is five
inches ; the colour a pale brown, sometimes
finely streaked with a darker.

Beneath the throat is a round depression of
a whitish colour, like the impression of a seat,
surrounded by twelve small pale yellow tu-
bera, by which probably it adlieres to the
stones like the foregoing species.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 9a

^<^T^P^»^W^^^'^^^ff^

THE SUN FISH.

RESEMBLES the bream kind, or some
deep fish cut off in the nriiddle. The mouth
is very small, and contains in each jaw two
broad teeth with sharp edges. The colour of
the back is dusky and dappled, and the belly
is of a silvery white. It grows to a very
large size ; and has been taken of the weight
of four hundred pounds.

When this fish is boiled, it has been ob-
served to turn to a glutinous jelly ; and would
probably serve for all the purposes of isin-
glass, were it found in sufficient plenty.

S3!

THE FISHING FROG.

NOTHING, perhaps, can exceed the de-
formity of this animal, the head of which is
bigger than the whole body. It very much

resembles

95 NATURAL HISTORY

resembles a tadpole, or young frog, but of an
enormous size, for it grows above five feet
long, and its mouth is sometimes a yard
wide. The under javv^ projects beyond the
upper, and both are armed with rows of
slender, sharp teeth ; the palate and the
tongue are furnished with teeth in a similar
manner ; the eyes are placed on the top of
the head, and are encompassed with prickles.
Two long beards or filaments are placed im-
mediately above the nose ; small in the be-
ginning, but thicker at the end, and they are
said to answer the very singular purpose of a
fishing line, to which use the animal con-
verts them.

Pliny, as well as many of our best modern
naturalists, agree in the above use of those fi-
laments ; — ** With these extended, '* say
they, ** the fishing frog hides in muddy
" waters, and leaves nothing but the beards to
" be seen ; — the curiosity of the smaller fish
" brings them to view these filaments, and
" their hunger induces them to seize the bait ;
" upon which the animal in ambush instantly
" drajp^s in its filaments with the little fish that
*' had taken the bait, and devours them with-
** out mercy." The truth of this has however
been doubted because other species of the fish-
ing frog have been found without beards, which

would

OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. 97

would not be wanting, were they necessary to
the existence of the genus.

Rondoletius tells us, ** that if wetake out the
bowels of the fishing frog, the body will appear
transparent; and if a lighted candle be placed
within the body, as in a lanthorn, the whole
has a very formidable appearance.'*

But as the fisliing-frog is an enemy to the
dog-fish, (a species of the shark) the bodies of
these fierce and vomcious ar.imdls being often
found in its stomach, the fishermen generally,
therefore, have a regard for it, and whenever
they take it, set it at liberty.

THE ARMOUR FISH.

THE Armour Fish [Catafractus Amen*-
camis) is about one foot in length, and four
inches broad ; a small part of the belly is car-
tilaginous, except which, the fish is covered
w*ith hard thick bone, but in a diflerent man-
ner, viz. the head and forepart are covered
with plates of bone, extending from the back to
VOL. IV. O the

OS NATURAL HISTORY

the belly, and lapping over one another. It is
armed with three strong pointed bones, thick
set, or rather sepaiuted with teeth, one placed
near the back, and one near each gill. These
bones are three inches long, and so fixed in
sockets, that the fish can point them in any
direction in defence of itself. The creature
has no teeth as a means of protection. Na-
ture seems to have compensated that defici-
ency, by bestowing on him weapons and ar-
mour in an extraordinary manner.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 99

THE VIPER-MOUTH.

THE Viper-mouth (or V^pera Marina of
Catesby) is about eighteen inches long ; but as
fish are not, like quadrupeds, of a determinate
size, so this species is said to grow to a vast
bigness. The mouth is excessively wide ; both
jaws are armed with sharp destructive teeth,
particularly two in each jaw, much longer than
the rest, so as not to be admitted w^ithin the
mouth : most of these long teeth have an an-
gular bending tov>"ards their ends, in a very sin-
gular manner; it is without scales, marked all
over with hexagonal divisions. Catesby says,
that this fish is of the oddest structure, and
most formidable appearance of any he ever
saw. One of them was taken in the harbour
of Gibialtar, and we believe is preserved in the
British Museum.

The Ribband Fish is found in the Caribee
Islands, and is about six inches in length. It

02

100 NATURAL HISTORY

is brown on the back, whitish on the belly;
the fins and tail are of a dusky colour ; it has a
circle round the eye, and a black spot between
the nostiils; it has also abroad black list run-
ning round the head, and passing through the
eyes ; it has two other black or dusky lists
bordered with white: the first passing a little
obliquely below the head , the other from the
long fin on the back quite through the tail,
which makes the fish appear as if it were
bound with ribbands. The belly is the broad-
est part, and the back grows gradually thin-
ner towards the neck, which terminates in ^
ridge.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 101

THE GALLEY FISH.

UPON the authority of Labat, this animal
is classed among the cartilaginous fish, to
which its habits indeed are somewhat similar.
It is supposed by Linnaeus to be in part the
food of the whale.

Labat, and after him Goldsmith, describes
it as having eight broad feet, with which it
swims, or which it expands to catch the air as
with a sail. It is very common in America,
and grows to the size of a goose egg, or some-
what more. It is perpetually seen floating,
and no efforts that have been tried can sink it to
the bottom. All that appears above water is
a bladder, clear and transparent as glass, and
shining with the most beautiful colours of the
rainbow. Persons who happen to be walking
along the sea-shore frequently tread upon these
animals, and the bursting of their bodies yields
a report like that when one treads upon the
swim of a fish.

Indeed

10^ ^ NATURAL HISTORY

Indeed to the eye of an unmindful spectator,
this diumal seems most to resemble a transoa-
rent bubble swiming on the surface of the sea,
or like a bladder variously and beautifully
painted with vivid colours, where red and
violet predominate, accordingly as they are
opposed to the beams of the sun. It is,
however, an actual fish, the body of which
is composed of cartilages, and a very thin
ekin, filled with air, which thus keeps the
animal floatin- on the surface, as the waves
and the winds happen to drive. Some-
times it is seen thrown on the shore by one
wave, and again washed back into the sea by
another.

Four of its feet keep in the water, and serve
as oars; while the other four are expanded above
to sail with : the legs are besmeared with a slimy
susbtance, by means of which it fastens itself to
whatever comes within its reach. Whether
they move when on shore, Labat could never
perceive, though he did every thing to make
them stir: he only noticed that they strongly
adhered to whatever substances were applied
to them.

The most extraordinary quality in this re-?
markable creature, is the violent pungency of
the slimy substance with which its legs are
smeared. If the smallest quantity do but touch

the

OF BIRDS, FISH, &c. 103

the skin, so caustic is its quality that it burns
it like hot oil dropt on the part aiFected. The
pain is worst in the heat of the day, but ceases
in the cool of the evening.

.It is from feeding on the galley fish, which
is itself most potently poisonous, that such de-
leterious effects are the consequence of eating
many species offish found about the West-In-
dian islands. The galley fish is certainly ex-
tremely numerous all along the coasts in the
gulph of Mexico ; and whenever the shore is
covered with them in an unusual manner, it is
considered as a certain prognostic of a stonii.

The Sepialogi, or Ink Fish, has been placed
by Linnaeus amoag worms ; others have eleva-
ted it among fish ; but Dr. Monro is of opi-
nion that it may more justly be considered as
a link between those two classes of beings.

The ink-bag is situated on the fore side of
the liver, of a conical shape, and considerable
size ; and from its situation and connection, the
anatomist was inclined to think that the ink
was thegall of the animal. Yet, as in thiscase,
the bile does not serve any of the purposes as-
signed to it, but is thrown out merely to assist
the animal in its escape, there is some reason
to suspect, that one principal use of the liver in
the human fabric, may be to drain off from the

constitution

104 NATURAL HISTORY

constitution some matter that is Iiurtful to it,
or that the bile is an excrementitious liquor.

BONY, OR SPINOUS FISH.

THE tails of all the fish that form this divi-
sion are placed perpendicularly to the body :
they have a complete bony covering to their
gills, throughvvhich they breathe air and water;
and their muscles are supported by bones, or
spines, thatare sharp and thorny. Thehnddock
isoneof this division that best corresponds with
the definition we have made. The great re^
semblance among all the genera of this division,
renders their natural history very similar : they
all live by rapine, each devouring such of the
inferior tribes as fall in their way by accident,
or are overtaken by pursuit ; they neither bring
forth their youn.G; alive, like the cetaceous kind,
nor produce them from distinct eggs, like the
cartilaginous, but deposit a spawn, that is pro-
lific

■r

Of BIRDS, Fisir, &c. ic5

lific to an astonishing degree. An ingenious
French writer, who undertook to estimate the
number of eggs, or peas as they are more ge-
nerally called, in the roe of a moderate sized
cod, and which he accomplished by accurate-
ly weighing and counting a small portion,
found the aggregate to be no less than nine
millions three hundred and forty thousand.

The most obvious circumstance in which
these fish differ from the preceding classes, is
their bony construction, which when slightly
examined, appears to be entirely solid ; but
when viewed more closely will be found hol-
low and filled with a substance less rancid
and oily than marrow : they are very nume-
rous, and pointed ; and are the props or
stays to which the muscles are attached for
giving motion to the various parts of the
body.

The skeleton of a fish has its members re-
gularly disposed, and every bone is placed
with as much precision as in the orders of a
regular fabric. The number, indeed, depends
on the number of fins by which they move in
the water ; consequently those fish, in which
the latter are most numerous must be most
bony. In the larger kinds, the quantity of
flesh abounds, and the bones themselves are
TOL, IT. P so

106 ). NATURAL HISTORY

SO large, that they are easily seen and sepa-
rated ; but in the smaller kinds with many
fins, the bones are as numerous as in the
gi'eat ; yet being so very minute, they lurk
almost in every part of the flesh, and are
dangerous as well as troublesome to be eaten.

In other vi^ords, fish that are large, fat, and
have few^ fins, are constantly the least bony ;
those on the contrary, that are small, lean,
and have many fins, are the most so. The
roach, for instance, appears more bony tliaii
the carp, merely because it is leaner and
smaller ; though it is more bony than an eel,
having a greater number of fins.

Some modern naturalists, vv^ho are, per-
haps, too much attached to system, admit
only the spinous class of the aquatic tribe to
the name of fish :— but to this distinction the
generality of mankind will not so readily sub:-
scribe. The spinous class certainly partake
less of the quadruped in their formation than
the others ; and therefore they can support
existence for a shorter time out of their own
element. Their sense of a change of element
is evidently and speedily testified by a palpi-
tation more violent, and at quicker and clos€r
intervals : our thin air will not allow proper
play, or rather exercise, for their lungs, and
in general they live but for a few minutes.

Some,

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 107

Some, however, are able to retain their vi-
tahty for a greater length of time : — the vital
principle of the eel, vs^e experimentally
know, will remain many hours after it ha3
been taken out of the water ; and carp has
been known to be fattened in a damp celler,
and continue in good health for a fortnight
together. It has from hence been inferred,
that the want of moisture in the gills is the
chief cause of the death of these animals ;
and could that be supplied, it is probable,
that hfe might be prolonged in the air almost
as long as in their native element.

It was a philosophical question proposed to
the Royal Society, in a merry mood, by its fa-
cetious founder, Charles II. — ** How comes
it that fish, which are bred in a salt element,
have yet no taste thereof, or that any is capa-
ble of being extmcted from them ? " The
problem is yet unsolved : and it appears in-
deed impossible to account for the different
operations of the same element upon animals
that to appearance have the same conforma-
tion : fish that live in our lakes and ponds
cannot bear the salt water ; and to some kinds
that are bred in the sea fresh water is im-
mediate destruction.

P 2 The

108 NATURAL HISTORY

The saline quality of the sea water cannot
by any means be admitted as the cause;
since, as the monarch abovementioned justly
remarked, no fish imbibe any of the sea*s
saltness with their food or in respiration.
The flesh of all the aquatic race is equally
fresh, both in the river, and at the saltest
parts of the ocean ; the salt of the element in
which they live no way mixing with their
constitution.

An hypothesis has been framed to account
for this phenomenon, from the superior
weight of the sea water being much heavier
than fresh water, from the great quantity of
salt which it contains in a state of solution :
so that it is probable it lies with greater force
upon the organs of respiration, and gives
them their proper and necessary play :-— on
the other hand, those fish which are used
only to fresh water, cannot bear the weight
of the saline fluid, and expire in a manner
suffocated in the grossness of the strange
element.

The reader has already been informed, that
the class, of which we are now discoursing,
is produced from spawn : the exceptions are
few ; the eel and the blenney, however, are
known to bring forth their young alive.

Bowlher,

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 109

Bowlher, who has written expressly on this
subject, relates that an eel, which was open-
ed in the presence of respectable witnesses,
was found to have an infinite number of
little creatures closely wrapped up together
in a lump, about the size of a nutmeg, which
being put into a bason of water, soon sepa-
rated and swam about.

In opposition to this it has been suggested,
whether these animals may not have Vv'orms
generated in their bodies ; for there are scarce-
ly any fish that are not infested with worms
in the same manner.

In what manner impregnation is perform-
ed on the eggs offish, is wholly unknown to
us. In ponds, the sexes are often seen to-
gether among the long grass at the edge of the
water, struggling, and apparently in a state
of suffering. They soon afterwards grow
thin, lose their appetites, their flesh becomes
flabby, their scales become rough, and they
lose their lustre. When this period is over,
their appetites return, they re-assume their
natural agility, and their scales become bril-
liant and beautiful.

Fish deposit their spawn at different seasons
of the year ; those which inhabit the depths

of

110 NATURAL HISTORY

of the ocean are said to choose the winter
months: in general, however, those with
which we are acquainted choose the summer
season, and prefer such water as is some-
what warmed by the sun-beams. After
having deposited their burthen, they return
to their form? r stations, and leave their pro-
geny to shift for themselves.

The cetaceous class nurse their young with
constant care, and protect them from every
injury ; the cartilaginous, though incapable
of nursing their offspring, yet defend them
with courage and activity: but the heedless
and hungry tribe we are now describing
leave their spawn without any protection,
and forget all connection at their departure.

Yet the production and continuation of
their species seems to be the most important
business of their lives ; and there is no dan-
ger which they will not encounter, even to
the surmounting precipices, to find a proper
place for the deposition of their future off-
spring.

The productive power of fish exceeds our
idea, for it would in a short time outstrip all
calculation. A single herring, if sufiered to
to multiply unmolested and undiminished for

twenty

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. Ill

twenty years, would shew a progeny gieater
in bulk than ten times our globe. But hap-
pily the ballance of nature is exactly preserv-
ed ; and their consumption is equal to their
fecundity. It should seem also that there is
something more favoui'able to the fecundity
of fish in the ocean, than in an element less
impregnated with salt ; for those of the ocean
exceed the inhabitants of lakes and rivers, in
point of progeny, in the proportion of twenty
to one ; nor do they exceed them less in size
and strength. Indeed it is obvious that, in
fresh water, fish abate much of their courage
and rapacity ; pursue each other with less vio-«
lence, and seem to be less powerfully actu-
ated by all their appetites.

In the propagation of fish, as indeed in
every part of animated nature, some degree
of warmth seems absolutely necessary : the
spawn is therefore always deposited in those
places where the sun-beams may reach them,
either at the bottom of shallow shores, or
floating on the surface in deep waters. But
a small degree of heat answers all the pur-
poses of incubation : and the animal issues
into life, perhaps, in a state of perfect forma-
tion, and never to undergo any succeeding
change.

We

112 NATURAL HISTOilY

We say perhaps, because it is not improba-
ble that fish may suffer some slight change
after their exclusion from the ^gg. This
change is known to take place in the frog
tribe, and many of the lizard kind, which
are produced from the egg in an imperfect
form. The tadpole, or young frog, with its
enormous head and slender tail is well
known ; a species of the lizard also, w^iich is
excluded from the shell without legs, only
acquires them by degrees, and it does not put
off its serpent form till after some time.

It is a general rule in nature, that the
larger the animals are, the longer they conti-
nue before exclusion: and this holds good
with respect to the pea or spawn of the spi-
nous fish. To assign a cause for this well
known truth is not easy : placing probability
in the stead of certainty, we might say, that
as all large bodies take a longer time to grow
hot than small ones, so the larger the egg^
the larger influence of vital warmth it re-
quires to reach through all its recesses, and
to unfold the dormant springs that wait to be
put in motion.

Duhamel remarks to us, that fish are a con-
siderable time in coming to their full growth ;
and that they are a long time destroyed before

it

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C.- 113

it comes to their turn to be destroyers. For
with respect to the growth of fish, it is ob-
served that, among carps particularly, they
grow to about the size of the leaf of a willow-
tree in the first year ; at two years they are
about four inches long; and seven after the
filth. From that time to eight years old, they
are found to be large in proportion to the
goodness of the pond, and generally from
eight to twelve inches in length.

With regard to sea-fish the same authorit}^
strengthened by that of fishermen, assures us,
that a fish must be six years old before it is
fit to be served up to table. They adduce as
an instance the growth of a mackerel ; and
assure us, that those a year old are as large as
one's finger ; that those of two years are twice
that length ; at three and four years they are
that small kind of mackerel that have neither
melts nor roes ; and between five and six they
are those full-grown fish that are sensed up at
our tables.

In the same manner with regard to flat-fish,
"we are told that turbot and barbel at one year
are about the size of a crown-piece; the se-
cond year they are as large as the palm of
one's hand ; and in the fifth and sixth years
large enough to furnish a handsome dish.
VOL. IV. Q The

114 NATURAL HISTORY

The change of seasons seems to have its in-
fluence on fish as well as on other classes of
animals: in winter their appetites seem en-
tirely to forsake them; at least they continue
in so torpid a state, that few baits will tempt
them to their destruction. They then forsake
the shallow water, and seek those deep holes
that are found in every river, where they con-
tinue for a length of time without ever appear-
ing to move. The cold evidently affects them;
for they lie close to the bottom, where the
water is most warm, and seldom venture out,
except the d^y be peculiarly fine, and the
shallows at the edge of the stream are warmed
by the powerful rays of the sun.

It is asserted by Goldsmith, " that some
*f fjsh may be rendered so torpid by the cold
** in the northern rivers, as to be frozen up in
*' the great mass of ice, in which they con-
** tinue for several months together, seem-
" ingly without life or sensation, the prisoners
" of congelation, and waiting the approach of
*' a warmer sun, to restore them at once to
** life and liberty. — Thus that chearful lumi-
*' nary not only distributes health and vegeta-
** tion to the productions of the earth, but i*
** ardently sought even by the gelid inhabit-
** ants of the water.*'

Fishi,

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 115

Fish, like all other created beings are sub-
ject to infirmity and disorder. Besides their
suffering from intensity of cold, there are cer-
tain dispositions in the element in which they
reside that are unfavourable to their health
and propagation. In some ponds they will
not breed, however well situated and sup-
plied with every necessary for their conveni-
ence and support. Some seasons are liable to
epidemic contagions ; and the fish are seerl
dead by the water side, without any apparent
cause.

Among their infirmities we have to notice,
that almost every species is infested with
worms of different kinds pecuHar to itself.
When fish are healthy and fat, they are not
much annoyed by them ; but in winter, and
after spawning time, when they are lean and
sickly, they are very great sufferers. I'hese
vermin lodge themselves either in the jaws,
^nd the intestines internally, or externally
near the fins. The great fins abound with
them, nor are the little ones entirely free.

It is a fact pretty generally known, tlmt the
eataceous and cartilaginous classes of fish bear
no proportion in point of number to that of
the spinous, of which above four hundred spe-
cies are already known; so that the number

Q 2 of

116 NATURAL HISTORY

of the former make not above a fifth part of
the finny creation.

From the great variety in this class, the
mind must be perplexed and bewildered in
describing or remembering even a part of
what it contains. Systems have been there-
fore devised to obviate this inconvenience, and
regulate the confusion, by throwing into one
group or division several fish that agree in
many particulars; and thus enabling the
mind to comprehend the whole when offered
in larger masses to its consideration.

It has been justly observed that of all ani-
mated beings, fish most demand a systematical
arrangement: birds, in their respective genera,
seldom vary in size; quadrupeds are not so
numerous but that they are well known ; but
no size can discriminate, where the same ani-
mal may be ten inches or ten feet in length ;
something of precision must therefore be
adapted to give us the idea of an animal
whose history we are pursuing.

Artedi and Linnaeus have long stood high
as the formers of systems ; but systems are
always arbitrary, and consequently fluctu-
ating; the last is generally therefore in the
highest estimation.

M. Gouan, a naturalist of much celebrity

at

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 117

at Montpellier, has been happy enough by a
union of those of the two former, to effect an
arrangement not only precisely systematical,
but in some measure adopted by nature itself.
Such a system deserves the attention of every
one who wi<;hes to arrange his ideas ; and as
such we shall lay the outlines of it before our
readers : though afterwards, in giving a more
minute history of the different species, we
shall not feel ourselves compelled to deviate
from the method already pursued of following
the chain of nature.

M. Gouan has so far adopted this method
in regard to the spiuous class, that he has
arranged them under the two general divi-
sions of prickly-fmned fish, and soft-finned
fish.

For the subdivisions, he has in conformity
to the observations of Linnaeus, attended to
the situation of the fins.

The ventral or belly fins, which are those
particularly to be remarked, are either wholly
wanting, as in the eel, and then the fish is
called apodal.

The ventral fins are placed more forward
than the pectoral fins, as in the haddock, and
then it is caiied a jugular Jish.

The ventral fins are placed directly under

the

lid NATURAL HISTORY

the pectoral fins^ as in the father-lasher, and
then it becomes a thoracic fish.

Lastly, the ventral fins are placed nearer
the tail than the pectoral fins, as in the min-
now, and then it is an abdommalfish.

These characters are strongly marked, and
may be easily remembered, and of these the
French naturalist has formed two grand divi^
sions, which he arranges as follow:

FIRST DIVISION :
PRICKLY-FINNED FISH.

1. Prickly-finned Apodal Fish ; those wanting

the ventral fins.

2. Prickly-finned Jugular Fish ; ventral fins

more forward than the pectoral.

3. Prickly-finned Thoracic Fish ; ventral fins

directly under the pectoral.

4. Prickly-finned Abdominal Fish; ventral

fins nearer the tail than the pectoral.

SECOND DIVISION:
SOFT-FINNED FlSH.

i. Soft-finned Apodal Fish ; characterised a$
the foregoing first sub-division.

2. Soft-finned Jugular Fish ; corresponding as

above :— and so of the rest.

3. Prickly-finned Thoracic Fish.

4. Soft-finned Abdominal Fish.

It

OF BIRD3, FISH, &C 119

It now remains, after a few preliminary ob-
servations, to divide the preceding arrange-
ment into such tribes as are most strongly
marked by nature, and by giving the distinct
characters of each, to make a very complete
and very simple system. The young natu-
ralist will hence have a tolerable idea of the
FORM of every kind of spinous fish; but the
history and nature of the animal itself can be
obtained only from experience and observa-
tion.

To explain the nature of his system, and
render the utility of it more apparent, M.
Gouan gives the following examples : — " Sup-
pose, says he, I meet with a fish, the name to
me unknown, of which I desire to know
something more. The way is, first to see
whether it be a cartilaginous fish, which may
be known by its wanting fins to open and
shut the gills, which the cartilaginous kind
are wholly without. If I find that it has
them, then it is a spinous fish ; and, in order
to know its kind, I examine its fins, whether
they be prickly or soft ; I find them soft ; it is
therefore to be ranked among the soft-finned
fish. I next examine its ventral, or belly-fins,
and finding that the fish has them, I look for
their situation, and find they are nearer to the

tail

120 NATURAL HISTORY

tail than to the pectora] fms. By this I fitid
the animal to be a sot't -finned abdominal fish.
Then to know which ot the kinds of these fish
it is, J examine its figure and the shape of its
head. I find the body rather oblong; the
head with a small beak; the lower jaw like a
saw; the fin covering the gills with eight rays.
This animal must therefore be the herring, or
one of that family; such as the pilchard, the
sprat, the shad, or the anchovy.

" To give another instance; upon exa-
mining the fins of a fish to me unknown, I find
them prickly ; I then look for the situation of
the ventral fins ; I find them entirely want-
ing: this, then, must be a prickly-finned
apodal fish. Of this kind there are but three,
and, by comparing the fish with the descrip-
tion, I find either the trichurus kind, the
sword-fish, or the gilt-head. Upon exa-
mining also its internal structure, I shall find
a very great similitude between my fish and
that placed at the head of the family.

DIVISION I.

PRICKLY-FINNFD FISH.
SECT. I. PRICKLY-FINNED APODAL FISH.

1. The Trichurus. The body of this fish
i« of a sword-like form ; the head oblong ;

the

Saw Fisti FIG.102 .

- tanMUMUitHi^^Mr

~% '^

Alackrca.T\G.\Ob.

&ubdoci>n.XlO.\.C>?).

Sword. Fijh .riG.lOl.

TurhocrPIG.lO^.

OF BIRDS, FISir, &C. 191

the teeth sword-like, bearded at the points;
the foreteeth largest; the fins coverhig the gills;
have seven spines ; the tail ending in a point
without firis.

This fish is of a beautiful silveiy white, is
found about the shoi-es of India, and particu-
larly near China, where it will leap into the
fislvefmens' baskets. It is also found in some
parts of America.

9. The Xwhias or Sword-JisL The body
is round, the head long, the upper jaw termi-
nating by a long beak in form of a sword , and
the fins that cover the gills have six spines.

3. The Dorada, Gilt-head, or Ophidium, and
by sailors called the Dolphin. The body sword-
like ; the head blunt ; the fin covering the gill
with seven spines ; the mouth opens sideways ;
the fins of the back, the anus, and tail, all join-
ing together.

SECT. TI. PRICKLY-FINXEi) JUGULAR-FISH.

4. The Trechimis, or Weaver. The body is
oblong, the head obtuse ; the bones covering
the gills jagged at the bottom ; the fins cover-
ing the gills with six spines ; the anus near the
breast. The fish buries itself in the sands, leav-
ing only its nose out ; and if trodden upon, im-
mediately strikes with the spines that form its
VOL. IV. R dorsal

122 NATURAL HISTORY

dorsal fins, which are venomous and dan-^
gerous.

5. The Uranoscopus. The body is formed
like a wedge ; the head is almost round, and
larger than the body, with eyes on the top of
it ; the mouth flat; the fin covering the gills
with five spines, and the anus in the middle
of the body. This fish is chiefly found in the
Mediterranean sea.

6. The Callionomus, or Dragonet. The body
is also of the wedge-form ; the head is broad,
and larger than the body ; the mouth even with
the body; the upper lip doubled up; the
bony covering of the gills shut close; the open-
ing to which is behind the head ; the fiu
that covers the gills has six spines. It is an
inhabitant of the Atlantic.

7. The Blennius, or Blenny ; one species of
which is of the viviparous kind. The body is

oblong; the head slanting or declining to onq
side ; the teeth a single range ; the gills cover-
<?d with a ^\\\ consisting of six spines ; and
tlie ventral fms having two small blunt bones in
each.

SECT. III. PRICKLY-FINNED THORACIC FISH*

8. The Gohiiis, or Gudgeon. The body
round and oblong ; the head with two little

holes

or BIRDS, FISH, &C. 123

holes between the eyes, one before the other ;
the fm covering the gill with six spines ; the
ventral fins joined together. The Gudgeon,
as well as the Cotcus, or Bull-head, is usually'
placed under the head Cyprinus,

9. The Cepola. The body sword-like ; the
head blunt; the mouth flat ; the fin coverino-
the gills with six spines ; the fins distinct; an
inhabitant of the Mediterranean Sea.

10. The Coryphoena, or Razor-Jish. The
body wedge-like ; the head very bevel ; the fin
covering the gills with five spines.

11. The Scomber, or Mackerel, The body
oblong ; the line running down the side zig-
zagged towards the tail ; the head sharp and
small ; the fins covering the gills with six
spines ; several fins towards the tail.

12. The Labrus, or Wrasse. The body
oval ; the head middling ; the lips doubled in-
ward ; both cutting and grinding teeth ; the
covers of the gills scaly ; the fin covering the
gills with five spines; the pectoral fins
pointed.

13. The Sparus, or Sea^bream, The body
oblong ; the head middling ; the Hps not in-
verted ; the teeth cutting and grinding ; the
cover of the gills scaly ; the fins covering

^^ the

124 NATURAL HISTORY

the giils witli five rays ; tlie pectoral fins
pointed.

14. The ChcetodoUf or Cat-fish. The body
oblong ; the head small ; teeth slender and
bending ; the fins covering tlie gills with five or
six spines ; the fins of the bacli and anus scaly.

15. The Sciaiia. The body nearly ellipti-
cal ; the head bevel ; the covers ol' the fins
scaly ; the fin covering the giils with six rays;
the fins of the back jagged, and hidden in a
furrow in the back.

16. The Perch. The body oblong ; the
head bevel ; the covers of the gills scaly and
toothed ; the fin covering the gills with seven
spines ; the fins in some jagged.

If. The Scorpcciia, or Father-laslwr, The
body oblong; the head great, with beards ; the
covers of the gills armed with prickles ; the
fin covering the gills with seven spines.

18. The MuUus, or Surmulet, The body
clender ; the head almost four-cornered ; the
fin covering the gills with three spines; some
of these have beards ; a fish highly prized by
the Romans, and still considered as a very
great delicacy.

19. The Trigla, or the Gurnard. The body
slender; the head nearly four-cornered, and

covered

OT Binns, f i«H, &c. 125

covered with a bony coat ; the fin covering the
gills v^^ith seven spines ; the pectoral and ven-
tral fins, strengthened with additional muscles
and bones, and very large for the animal's size.

20. The Cijttus, or Bull-head. The body
wedge-like; the head flat and broader than tlie
body; the lin covering the gills with six spines;
the head furnished with prickles, knobs, and
beards.

21. The Zeus or Doree. The body ob-
long ; tlie head large, and bevel ; the fin cover-
ing the gills with seven rays ; the fins jagged;
the upper jaw with a loose floating skin de-
pending into the mouth.

22. The Trachipterus, ox Sabre, The body
sword-like ; the head bevel ; the fin covering
the gills with six spines ; the lateral line
stmight ; the scales in a single order ; a loose
skin in both the jaws.

23. The Gasterosteus, or Siicklehack, The
body broadest towards the tail ; the head ob-
long ; the fin covering the gills with three
spines ; prickles starting backward before the
back fins and the fins of the anus.

PRICKLY-FIXNED ABDOMINAL FISH.

The Sihtrus, or Sheat-Fish. The body
oblong ; the head large ; the fin covering the

gills

l^G NATURAL HISTORY

gills with from four to fourteen spines; the lead-
ing bones or spines in the back and pectoral
fins toothed.

95. The Mugil, or Mullet. The body ob-
long ; the head almost conical ; the upper jaw
with a farrow, which receives the prominence
of the under ; the fin covering the gills with
seven rays.

96. The Folynemus. The body oblong;
the head with a beak; the fin covering the gills
with from five to seven spines : the bones that
move the pectoral fins not articulated to those
fms. This would seem rather to be a species
of the Exocetas: as will appear afterwards in
the particular description of the Flying-fish.

27. The Theutifs. The body almost ellip-
tical ; the head abruptly shortened ; the fin
covering the gills with five rays; the teeth in
a single row, close, strong, and even.

28. The Ehps, or Sea-serpent. The body
slender ; the head large ; the fin covering the
gills double with thirty spines, and armed ex-
ternally with five bones resembling teeth.

DIVISIOK

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 127

DIVISION II.

SOFT-FINNED FISH*

SECT. I.— -SOFT-FINNED APODAL FISH.

29. The Murcena, or Eel. The body round
and slender ; the head terminating in a beak ;
t4ie fin covering the gills with ten rays ; the
opening to the gills pipe-fashion, placed near
the pectoral fins ; the fins of the back, the
nus, and the tail, united in one.

30. The GymnotuSi or Carapo. The body
broadest on the back, like the blade of a knife;
the head small ; the fin covering the gills with
five rays; the back without a fin; two bearrls
<.»r filaments from the upper lip ; an inhabit-
ant of Brasil.

31. The Anarhicas, or WoJf-Jish. The body
ix)undish and slender; the head large and blunt;
the fore-teeth above and below conical ; the
grinding teeth and those in the palate round ;
the fin covering the gill has six rays.

32. The Strornateiis. The body oblong;
the head small ; the teeth moderately sharp ;
the fin covering the gill with five or six rays.

33. The A?nmodytes, or Laimce, The body-
slender and roundish ; the head terminated by
«i beak ; the teeth of a hair-like fineness : the
fin covering the gills with seven rays.

SECT^

IQ8 NATURAL HISTORY

SECT. 11.-^— SOFT-riNNED JUGULAR FI?JL

34. Tlie Lapadogasler. The body wedge-
like ; the head oblong, forwarder than the bo-
dy, flattish, the beak resembling that of a duck ;
the pectoral fins double, two on each side ; the
ventral joined together ; a kind of bony breekst-
plate between the jDectoral fins ; the fin cover-
ing the gills with five rays ; the opening to the
gills pipe-tashion.

35. The GaduSyOY Cod-fiah. The body ob-
long ; the head wedge-like ; the fin covering
the gills with seven rays : several back and
anal fins.

SECT. III.— SOFT-FINNED THORACIC FISH.

3G. The Plemoneclesy or Flumide. The
body elliptical ; the head small ; both eyes on
one side of the head; the fin covering the
gills with from four to seven rays.

37. The Echeneic, 'or Sucking-fish. The
body almost wedge-like, moderately round ;
the head broader tlum the body ; the fin cover-
ing the gills with ten rays ; an oval breast*
plate, streaked in form of a ladder, toothed.

33. The Lipidopus, or the Garter-fish. The
body sword-like : the head lengthened out, the
fins covering the gills with seven rays ; three
scales only on the whole body; two in the place

of

OF BIRDS, FISH, Sec. 129

of the ventral fms ; the third from that of the
anus.

SOFT-FINNED ABDOMINAL FISH.

39. The Loricaria, The body crusted
over ; the head broad, with a beak; no teeth;
the fin covering the gills with six rays.

40. The Atherina, or Atlienne, The body
oblong ; the head of a middling size ; the
lips indented ; the fin covering the gills
with six rays ; the lines on the sides resem-
bling a silver band,

41. The Sahno, or Salmon. The body ob-
long ; the head a little sharp ; the fin co-
vering the gills with from four to ten rays ; the
last fin on the back without its correspondent
muscles, fat,

42. The Fistularia. The body angular,
in form of a spindle: the head pipe-fashion,
with a beak ; the fin covering the gills with
seven rays ; the under jaw covering the upper.

43. The Esox, or Fike. The body round ;
the head with a beak ; the under jaw pierced
longitudinally with small holes ; the fin co-
vering the gills with from seven to twelve
rays,

41. The Argentina, or Argentine, The body
a Httle round and slender ; the head with a
VOL. IV. S beak.

130 NATURAL HISTORY

beak, broader tlian the body ; the fiii cover-
ing the gills with eight rays ; a spurious
back fin.

45. The Clupea, or Herring. The body
a little oblong ; the head with a small beak ;
the fin covering the gills with eight rays.

40. The EvocetaSy or Fbjmg-Jish. The
body oblong ; the head almost three-corner-
ed; the fin covering the gills with ten rays ;
the pectoral fins placed high, and as long as
the whole body ; the back fin at the extremi-
ty of the back.

47. The CyprhmSj or Carp. The body elon-
gated, almost round; the head with a small
beak ; the hinder part of the head covering
the gills, marked with a crescent ; the fin.
'covering the gills with three rays.

4S. The Cobilis, or Loach. The body ob-
long : almost equally broad throughout ; the
head small, a little elongated ; the eyes in
the hinder part of the head ; the fin covering
the gills with from four to six rays ; the covers
of the gills closed below.

49. The Am'm, or Bonito, The body
round and slender: the head, forehead, and
breast, without skin ; the fin covering the
gills with twelve rays ; two beards from the
nose.

^0. The

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C: 131

50. The MormrjTUS. The body oblong;
Ute liead lengthened ; the gill covering fm has
a single ray ; the opening to the gills is linear,
and has no bone covering them.

Having given this copious view of Goiian*s
system, for the convenience of those who
may wish to make ichthyology a science, we
shall conclude with a defniition of two very
important words, frequently nrade use of by
naturalists of every class.

Genus, in natural history, is a subdivision
of any class or order of natural beings,
whether of the animal, vegetable, or mineral
kingdoms, all agreeing in certain common
characters.

The genera of animals ought to be esta-
blished upon the most natural, obvious , and
distinctive characters. The genera of fish
are founded on a certain agreement between a
number of species, arising from the simihtude
of their essential external parts, which always
consists in the situation of these parts, for the
most part also in number, and frequently in
their figure and proportion.

The word Species has been very accurate-
ly defined by Artedi, in tl^ science gf ichthy-
ology—-'' Every fish, says he, which differs

S Q from

139 NATURAL HISTORY

from all the other fish of the same genus, in
some external part, whether that difference
be in excess or defect, in number or propor-
tion, or even in colour, provided that the dif-
ference be fixed and invariable, is properly ta
be called a distinct species.'*

The specific differences of fish are to be
drawn from these circumstances ; but it is
not to be supposed that every species differs
in all of them ; sometimes only one, some-
times more, occasion the variation.

If any one fish, in regard to all the others
of the same genus, be found to be possessed of
some external part which they all want, as.
for example, if it have tubercles in the shape
of horns on the head, spines or prickles in the
head, or any other part of the body, the fish
is then to be esteemed a distinct species.

If one fish differ from the others of the same
genus, , in the number of any parts, as fins,
spines, or tubercles, it is then also a distinct
species.

If one fish differ from another in the pro-
portion of any essential part, as in the having
longer jaws, longer teeth, or the like, it is
also to be esteemed a truly different species.

If one fish differ from another in the figure
•of some essential part, as if the snout, the

back.

or BinD?, FISH, &c. 133

back, the teeth, or the tail, or the lateral
lines, it is to be esteemed a distinct species.

If one fibh diil'er from another of the same
genus in the excess of parts, having some
part that is deficient in the other ; or if in
number, proportion, or figure of some of the
essential parts, the distinction will be the
more evident as the greater number of parts
differ, and the species will be easily found
to be distinct.

With this elementary assistance to the sci-
entific knowledge of fish, we now proceed to
the histor}^ of such individuals as are best
known and ascertained.

THE XIPHIAS, OR SW'ORD FISHi

THIS fish is from fifteen to twenty- five
feet long, and very thick in proportion to its
length : it is found in most parts that>are fre-
quented by W'hales, to which it is a most ter-
rible enemy. Navigators say, that at the

sight

1'34 NATURAL IIIStOnY

sight of this animal, the whale seems agitated
in an extraordinary manner, leaping from the
water as if from fear: wherever it appears,
the whale perceives it at a distance, and flies
from it in the opposite direction. The whale
has no instrument of defence except its tail,
with which it endeavours to strike the enemy,
and a single blow taking place w^ould effectu-
ally destroy it : but the sword-fish is as active
as the other is strong, and easily avoids the
stroke; then bounding into the air, it falls
upon its enertiy, and endeavours not to pierce
with its pointed beak, but to cut it with its
toothed edges. The surrounding sea is soon
dyed with blood, proceeding from the wounds
of the whale ; while the enormous animal
vainly endeavours to reach its invader, and
strikes with its tail against the surface of the
water, making a report at each blow, louder
than the noise of a cannon.*

* This fish is to be found equally in hot and in frozea
climates : it appears in the seas of Spitzbergen, and in
those of Afiica, of the East Indies, and of America j and
ev<2rv where it ift the sworn foe of the whale.

or BIRDS, FISH, &c. 135

THE DORADA.

THIS is one of the most beautiful, most

active, and most voracious of the spinous

kind ; they are in a state of continual v^ar-

fare, always employed either in defending

themselves against the shark, or darting after

the smaller fish. It is chiefly found in the

tropical climates, is about six feet long, yet

not thicker than a salmon, and, furnished

"with a full complement of fuis, cuts its way

through the water with amazing rapidity. — Its

eyes are placed on each side of the head,

large and beautiful, surrounded with circles

of shining gold. The back enamelled all over

with spots of a bluish green and silver ; the

tail and fms of a gold colour, and altogether

possessing such a brilliancy of tint as nothing

but Nature's pencil could produce.

136 STATURAt HISTORY

THE ANARRIIICAS LUPUS, OR SEA-WOLF.

THIS seems to be confined to the northern
part of the globe. We find it in the sea of
Greenland ; in those of Iceland and Norway ;
on the coasts of Scotland and of Yorkshire ;
and lastly in that part of the German ocean,
which washes the shores of Holland ; which
last is the most southern of its haunts that
we can with any certainty mention.

It is a most ravenous and fierce fish, and
when taken, fastens on any thing within its
jeach : the fishermen, dreading its bite, en-
deavour, as soon as possible, to beat out its
fore teeth, and then kill it by striking it be-
hind the head. Schondvelde relates, that its
bite is so hard that it will seize on an anchor,
and leave the marks of its teeth in it ; and the
Dutch and German names of Steenbider, and
Steinbeisser, express the sense of its great
strength, as if it were capable of crushing
even stones with its jaws.

It

of' birds, fish, &c. 137

Ifc feeds almost entirely on crustaceous fish,
such as crabs, lobsters, prawns, muscles,
scollops, large whelks, &c. these it grinds to
pieces with its teeth, and swallows with the
lesser shells. It does not appear that they
are dissolved in the stomach, but are voided
with the fasces; for which purpose the aper-
ture of the anus is wider than in other fish of
the same size.

It is full of roe in February, March, and
April, and spawns in May and June.

This fish has so disagreeable and horrid'an
appearance that nobody at Scarborough^ ex.
cept the fishermen, will eat it, and they prefer
n to holibut. Thejr always, before dressing,
take off the head and skin.

The sea- wolf grows to a large size : those
on the Yorkshire coast are sometimes found
of the length of four feet;, according to Dr.
Johnson, they have been taken near Shetland
seven feet long, and even more.

The head is a little flatted on the top; the
nose blunt; the nostrils very small ; the 'eyes
small, and placed near the end of the nos^.

The teeth are very remarkable, aqd finely
adapted to its way of life. The fore teeth are
strong, conical, diverge a little from each

other, stand far out from the jaw.s and are
V9t, IV. J'

^ commonly

138 • >-ATURAL-HlSTORT

commonly six above and the same below,
though sometimes there are only five in each
jaw; these are supported Within side by a
row of lesser teeth, which makes the number
in the upper jaw 17 or 18, in the lower 11
or 12.

The sides of the under jaw are convex in-
wards, which greatl}^ adds to their strength,
and at the same time allows room for the
large muscles with which the head of this fish
is furnished. The denies molares^ or grinding
teeth of the under jaw, are higher on the
outer than the inner edges, which inclines
their surfaces inward ; they join to the canine
teeth in that jaw, but in the upper are sepa-
rated from them. In the centre there are two
rows of flat strong teeth, fixed oh an oblong
basis upon the bones of the palate and nose.
The teeth of the anarrhicus are often found
fossil ; and in that state called hitfonites, or
toad-stones: these were formerly much
esteemed tor their imaginaiy virtues, and were
set in gold, and worn as rings.

The two bones that form the under jaw are
united before by a loose cartilage ; which me-
chanism, admitting of a motion from side to
side, most evidently contributes to the design
pf the whole, viz. a facility of breaking, grind-
ing,

OT^ BiiiD?, FISH, kc. i-uj

]ng, and coinmirmtinfif, its testaceous aud
crustaccous food. At the entrance of the
gullet, above and below, are echinated botie^ :
these are very small, being the less necessary,
as the food is in a great measure comminuted
in the mouth by aid of the grinders.

The body is long, and a little compressed
sidewaj'S; the skin smooth and slippery ; it
wants the lateral line. The pectoral fins con-
sist of 18 rays. The dorsal fin extend3 from
the hind part of the head to the tail; the rays
in the fresh fish are not visible. The anal fiii
extends as far as the dorsal fin. The tail is
round at its end, and consists of 13 rays. The
sides, back, and fins, are of a livid lead colour;
the two first marked downwards with irre-
gular obscure dusky lines; these in different
fish have diflferent appearances. The young
are of a greenish cast, resembling the sea"^
wrack, amongst whix'h they reside for some
time after their birth.

T2

140 NATURAL HISTOnV

IHE CHAETODON, OR CAT FISH.

THE body is oblong, the head small, the
teeth slender, very numerous and flexile ; the
rays of the gill five or six; the fins of the
back and anus scaly.

There are twenty-three species, dis*
tinguished from each other principally by the
figure of the tail, and the number of spines in
the back fm.

The most remarkable is the rostratus, or
shooting fish, of Linnaeus, having a hollo v/
cylindrical beak. The following account of
this fish, under a different name, is given by
a writer of credit.

The jaculator, or darting fish, is an inha-
bitant of the Indian sea, and derives its name
from the extraordinary manner in which it
obtains its food.

The fish is of the size of a carp, the body
covered with large scales, the head also is
scaly, and the lower jaw projects ; the eyes ate
large, and the iris of a golden colour ; the

whole

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 141

"vvhole body is likewise of a golden hue, like
that of the carp, except the back, which ap-
proaches to a brown, and is marked with five
dark brown transverse equi-distant spots on
either side, the fust* at the temples, the last
near the tail.

The jaculator frequents the shores and sides
of the seas or rivers in quest of food. When
he intends to catch a fly, or any other insect
^hich he sees at a distance he approaches very
slowly and cautiously, and comes as much as
possible perpendicularly under the object; the
body being put more or less in an oblique
situation, and the mouth and eyes being near
the surface of the water, the jaculator remains
for a moment quite immoveable, having its
eyes fixed directly on the object, and then be-
gins to shoot, without ever shewing its mouth
above the surface of the water, out of which
a single drop shot at the object seems to arise,
which never fails striking the fly into the sea,
where it soon becomes the prey of the fish.

This relation is authorized by the experi-
ment of M. Hommel, governor of Batavia in
1776, who had curiosity to be convinced of
the truth by ocular demonstration. For this
purpose he had a large wide tun filled with
sea water, then had some of the fish caught

and

142 NATURAL HISTORY

and put into it, changing the water every
other day. In a short time they seemed re-
conciled to their confinement. A slender
stick with a fly pinned on its end, was placed
in such a direction on the side of the vessel,
that the fish could strike it. It was with in-
expressible delight that the governor saw these
fish exercising their skill in shooting at the fly
with an amazing velocity, and never missing
the mark. With the closest attention he
never could see any part of the mouth out of
the water, though he often saw the fish shoot
a great many drops one after another, without
leaving its place and fixed situation.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 143

THE CALLIONYMOUS.

THE upper lip of this fish is doubled up;
the eyes are very near each oilier : and the
belly fins at a great distance.

There are three species of callionymous.

1. The lyra^ with the first bonp of the back
fin as long as the body of the animah It is
found as far north as Norway and Spitzbergen,
and as far south as the Mediterranean Sea ;
and it is not unfrequent on the Scarborough
coast, where it is taken by the hook in thirty
or forty fathoms water.

5. The dranunculus with tlie first bone of
the back fin shorter than its body, which is
of a spotted yellow. It frequents the shores
of Genoa and Rome.

3. The indicus has a smooth head with
longitudinal wrinkles; the lower jaw is a little
longer than the upper one ; the body of a
livid colour ; the anus in the middle of the
body. It is a native of Asia.

144 XATUHAL HISTOHY

THE SALMON.

THIS is a soft-finned abdominal fish; and
distinguished from others of the truttaceous
kind by the following characters ; it is of aa
oblong body covered with very small scales, a
small head, a sharp nose, and forked tail ; its
back is bluish, and the rest of the body
reddish; but the belly part is paler, or whitish,
and the whole is usually spotted. Its under
jaw is bent upward, and sometimes so much so
that it makes itself a sinus in the upper by
constant motion, and sometimes perforates it.

The salmon is first produced from its parent
spawn in fresh rivers ; thence it goes into the
sea, to acquire its growth and feed ; and at
the time of its full growth, and in the season
for spawning, it removes into the fresh
waters again.

People who are accustomed to view salmon,
can discover the difference of sex at first sight*
from the head of the he fish being much larger

than

till J// lev/ .113

Ffyi>t,,^F^k.\\'&.

O^ BIRDS, FISH, &C. 145

than that of the she, and when full grown, the
former has a knob on the point of the lower
jaw.

In the latter end of the year, the salmon
makes as far up the river as possible in order to
spawn ; and when they meet with a place suit-
able, the male and female conjunctly form a hole
in the sand or gravel, about eighteen inches
deep, wherein they cast their sperm together,
and carefully cover it over with the same mate-
rials, where it continues till the spring, if not
disturbed by the winter^s flood. — One of the
two roes of the she fish will at this season be
sometimes twelve inches in length, and six iu
circumference.

It is remarkable, that so far as observation
has at any time been able to trace them, the
same shoals of salmon always return into the
same river out of which they swam, and not
into any other ; so that the people who live on
the salmon fishery are not afraid of their ri-
vers being cleared, by all the fish in them
going down into the sea, for they know that
they will all return to them a3ain at a proper
time.

When the salmon has once entered a fresh
river, he always swims up against the stream,
VOL. IV. U and

1*^5 KATURAL HISTORY

and often will go a hundred leagues in the
large and long rivers ; and the people at this
vast distance from the mouth have the plea-
sure of taking a fish that is in part properly of
the sea kind. And it is somewhat singular,
says Des LandeSy that the rivers which most
abound with salmon, do not make the seas
about their mouths any more abound with
them than others ; for instance, the harbour of
Brest affords no salmon, though the river Cha-
teaulin, which discharges itself into it, is the
richest salmon river in France.

Neither do salmon equally frequentall rivers,
though the rivers themselves may seem to us
equally proper for their reception. There are
two rivers which open themselves into the har-
bour of Brest, very near to each other ; the one
of these is famous for the quantity of salmon in
it ; and the great advantages thence arising; —
in the other, these fish are never seen. The
cause most probably of their making this regu-
lar choice is, their finding plenty of food, and
proper places for depositing their spawn in the
one of these rivers, and not in the other.

The depositing the spawn seems one of the
most important acts in the life of a salmon ;
and there is no danger which they will not en-
counter,

OF BIRDS, riSH, &C. 14?

counter, even to the surmounting of pre-
cipices, to find a proper place for the purpose :
and they not onlj^ brave the danger of various
enemies, but also spring up cataracts as high
as a house.

When they come to the bottom of a torrent,
they seem disappointed at m.eeting the obstruc-
tion, and swim some paces back ; they then take
a view of the danger that Hes before them, sur-
vey it motionless for some minutes, — advance,
and again retreat ; till at last summoning up all
their force, they take a leap from the bottom*
their body straight and strongly in motion, 'dvA
thus most frequently clear every obstruction.

Another singularity regarding the salmon,
is their swimming up the rivers together in such
vast numbers. It is to be allov/ed, indeed, that
herring, mackerel, and many other fish, do in
the same manner appear on the coast at certain
seasons in prodigious numbers ; bu t the reasons
for their coming together in these quantities are
much more easily explained. The herrings when
they come in such prodigious shoals to the coasts
of Britain and France, have been found to be al-
lured thither in these numbers by a prodigious
quantity of a })articular sortof sea worms, which
are their favourite food, and which are found to
cover the whole surface of the sea at that time.

U 2 Rondel-

148 l^ATU^AL HISTORY

Rondelletius has described these insects yji^
der tlie name of sea-caterpillars; they al-
ways appear in the months of June, July, and
August, which are the herring season in those
parts of the world ; and probably the same cause
will be found to bring them to other places, if
sufficiently enquired into, as these and some
other fish come to certain places in shoals, to
get food. — But the salmon do it in order to pro-
pagate their species. The spawn of the sal-
mon is never deposited but in the rivers, at the
time that these fish are found in the rivers, it is
only with this intent : the females go first and
the males follow as far as the others please to
lead them, which is usually to some convenient
place in shallow water, where the spawn, when
deposited, is not buried under too great a quan-
tity of water, but has the advantage of a con-
tinual warmth from the sun's beams.

About the latter end of March, or beginning
of April, the young fry show themselves alive,
very small at first, but they gradually arrive at
the size of four inches in length and are then
termed, (in the North at least) smouters or
more properly smelts, though destitute of any
afiinity in colour or shape to that delicate mor-
sel with which a dish of Newcastle salmon is

decorated

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 140

decorated at the London tables. This j'oung
fry hasten to sea with great expedition ; for
about the middle of May, the rivers where they
breed seem to be alive.

About the middle of June in the following
season, the earliest of them take the river again^
being increased to 12, 14, or 16 inches long,
and in the second stage are called gikes. Thus
they increase in numbers and size till about the
middle of July ; during which time they are
taken in great numbers ; the following season
they became a well grown salmon.

The popular opinion that the fish, common-
ly called the salmon-trout, is a young salmon,
is generally deemed ill-founded. In the river
Tweed they are called whitlings, and are cer-
tainly a distinct species offish, though resem-
bhng the salmon in scales, shape, and colour.
Their flavour, when fresh taken, is very deli-
cious, and much superior to all other trout,
without exception. They are thought to be
peculiar to the main body^of the Tweed', and
not generating in, or frequenting its bmnches*.

* They arc also caught in Loch Leven, in Fifeshire, where
the unfortunate Mary Queen of S'cots was confined in a castle
built upon a small island in the middle of it. They are of
excellent flavour, and the right of fishing for them is farmed
out to an individual at a considerable price.

Ther^

150 NATURAL HISTORY

There is also in the Tweed, another kind of
trout, called the hull-trout y of a large size, and
proportionably longer than the whitling. This
trout is found only in the months of January
and February ; it often weighs twelve pounds;
and is sold in London, during these early
months, for salmon.

Another species of small fish isfoundin those
rivers that abound in salmon, and is commonly
known by the name of Par-fish. They appear
in the month of April, and continue till No-
vember, during which time they increase from
two or three inches to five or six. They are
caught with worms, or the artificial fly. They
are most probably the same fish with the Sam*
lett of the Wye, and the Samson of the Severn,
both of which they resemble perfectly in shape
and colour; and the same notion prevails in
respect to them as of the par, that they are
only of the male sex.

But the opinion of their being the fry of the
salmon, or else an abortive production of that
fish which does not breed, seems to be clearly
negatived by Mr. Pennant; and to this may
be added, that near the river of Aber, in Car-
narvonshire, a small stream falls perpendicu-
larly from a rock 300 feet high: above this
fall, the fish called par, samlet, or samson, are
iij great plenty, but no salmon was ever seen

above

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 151

above the cataract ; consequently the species
in question, Avhich are extremely numerous,
and constantly breed there, cannot be either
the abortive, or mature offb^pring of that iish.

The scarcity of sahnon which has of late
years prevailed in Worcester, has been attri-
buted to fly-fishing; for they were in such
quantities formerly, that there are many old
indentures now in Worcester, by which it is co-
venanted that apprentices shall not be compel-
led to eat salmon more than twice a week, as
is now^ the case with the ploughmen in De-
vonshire, and the fishermen's boys in North
Shields.

CAPELAR.

THIS fish is described by Walcott under
the name of Salmo Arcticus. It swarms, he savS
on the coasts of Newfoundland, Greenland, and
Iceland ; lives mostly at sea, and comes into

bavs

152 JTATU^cAL HIStOitY

bays only in the months of May, June, and
July, to breed. The females enter first, and
deposit their roe on the sea-plants. The male
follow to milt. At this time the number is so
great, that they make the water look black
and curled. They are taken by dipping small
nets fastened to a hoop at the end of a pole.
When fresh caught they have the smell of a
cucumber. At isfewfoundland they are called
capelan, and are preserved in brine, as baits for
the cod fisheiy ; in Iceland , Lodua,and in Green-
land, angmarset, where they dry them on the
rocks, and make them supply the place of
bread.

The head of this fish is small ; the lower
jaw toiigest ; body slender ; th€ lateral line
formed by a ridge of short bristles ; the gill
covers black ; back, a dull green ; sides and
belly silvery white, dotted with black ; the
belly often tinged with violet ; first dorsal fin
is in the middle of the back ; the second broad
and truncated at top ; pectoral fins large, and
situated very low v tail forked ; length six
iqches. The female wants the black on the gill
covers ; and the lateral line is smooth.

From the appellation given to it by Mr.
Walcott, we have given it place next to the
salnaon.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 153

THE TUNNY.

THE Tuiniy is often known b}^ the name of
the Spanish Mackerel ; its technical name is
thynniis ; it is common in the Mediterranean
and other seas, but is not frequently caught
on the English coast.

The tunny is a very large fish, growing
sometimes to seven or eight feet long, and
more than a hundred weight. It is of a round-
ed and thick body, growing gradually small
towards the tail, and becoming at last ex-
tremely slender. It very much resembles the
pelamis in its whole figure, but that it wants
the oblong black streaks which that fish has
on its sides, and is much larger. The back is
black, or, if held in some lights, of a shining
bluish or greenish hue : the belly, and half
the sid^s, of a silvery whiteness ; the scales
are very small ; the snout pointed ; the jaws
botli of equal length, and armed each with
VOL. IV. X one

154 NATURAL HISTORY

one row of teeth. The mouth is large and
black within, except part of the palate which
is red. The eyes are large ; the larger black
fins are two in number, the foremost placed
pear the head, and rising out of a cavity in
the back, and the other at a small distance
behind that ; and in some fish of this species,
of a reddish, or yellowish colour: behind this
last there are eight, nine, or ten small fins run-
ning down the ridge of the back, at equal dis-
tances, to the tail, which is very forked.
The fins at the gills are black, small, and
terminate, in a point. The belly-fins are
placed at a small distance only behind these,
and are also small ; and both these and the
gill-fins have sinusses in the body of the fish,
into which they may be depressed.

Behind the anus is a fin like that on the
back, and behind it eight more small ones,
answering to thos^ on the back also ; and the
skin of the sides near the tail is extended into
two fins, so that this part of the fish looks as
if it were square.

This fish is much esteemed at the table,
especially in Spain and Italy, where it is salt-
ed in vast quantities.

Mr. Swinburn, in his Ti-avels through Italy,
gives the following remarks on these fish, and
the method of taking them :

**The

OP BIRDS, FISH, &C. 155

• "The nets,*' says he, *' are spread over
** a large space of sea, by meau<^ of cables
** fastened to anchors, and are divided into
** several compartments. The entrance is al-
** ways directed, according to the season,
*.* towards the part of the sea from which the
•* fish are known to come. A man placed

V upon the summit of a rock, high above the

V water, gives, the signal of the fish being ar-
" rived; for lie can discern from thateleva-
** tion what passes under water infinitely
*' better than any person nearer the surface.
** As soon as notice is given that the shoal of
" fish has penetrated as far as the inner com-
*' partment, or the chamber of death, the
** passage is drawn close, and the slaughter
" begins.

" The tunny belongs to Linnaeus's scomber
" among the thoracici; and enters the Mediter-
" ranean about the vernal equinox, travelling
" in a triangular phalanx, so as to cut the
" waters with its point, and to present an ex-
" tensive base for the tides and the currents to
•* set against, and impel forwards. These fish
? repair to the w^arm seas of Greece to spawn,
" steering their course thither along the Eu-
** ropean shores; but, as they return, ap-
X 2 *• proacU

lo5 NA-BURAL HISTORY

** proach the African coast ; the young fry is
" placed in the van of the squadron as they
" travel. They come back from the East in
" May, and abound on the coast of Sicily
'* and Calabria about that time.

*' In autumn they steer northward, and fre-
" quent the neighbourhood of Almisi and Na-
" pies ; but during the whole season strag-
" glers are occasionally caught. When taken
" in May, the}^ are full of spawn, and their
*' flesh is then esteemed unwholesome, apt
*' to occasion headachs and vapours ; the
" milts and roes are particularly so at that
" season. To prevent these bad effects, the
'' natives fry them in oil, and afterwards salt
*' them. The quantity of these fish consum-
" ed annually in the two Sicilies almost ex-
•' ceeds the bounds of calculation. From the
" beginning of May to the end of October it
** is eaten fresh, and all the rest of the year it
•* is in use salted. The most delicate part is
" the muzzle. The belly salted was called
" tarajitellum, and accounted a great delicacy
" by the Romans ; its present name is surra.
'* The rest of the body is cut into slices, and
** put into tubs.*'

OF BIRDS, FISH, kC, 157

THE COD.

THIS is the largest of a genus of fish,
•named by some authors Asselli, and by others
Gadus. The chief characters by which tlie
cod is distinguished are as follows :

The colour on the back and sides is a dusky
olive, variegated with yellow spots ; its belly
is white : its sides have a long white line run-
ning their wliole length, from the gills to the
tail, which at the abdomen is curved, but
elsewhere is straight; its scales are very
small, and adhere firmly to the skin ; its eyes
are large; at the angle of the lower jaw,
there hangs a single beard; which is short,
seldom exceeding a finger's length; its tongue
is broad ; it has several rows of teeth like the
pike ; and in the palate, near the orifice of
the stomach, and near the gills, it has small
clusters of teeth. It has three back fins, two
at the gills, and two at the breast, and two
others behind the anus ; and tlie tail is plain.

The

JoS NATURAL HISTORY

The cod may not improperly be placed at
the head of the migrating or wandering tribe
oT fish. It is a native of the Northern world,
and its places of residence are the banks of
Newfoundland, and the other sand-banks
that lie off Cape Breton ; which, together,
form an extensive flat of above five hundred
miles in extent, and surrounded by a deep
sea. Thither they repair annually in numbers
beyond the power of ceilculation, to feed on
the quantity of worms that are to be found
there in the sandy bottom . On these banks
they are laken in such numbL^rs, that they
supply all Europe with a considerable share of
provisions. The fishermen talie them with
their line, as fast as they can throw it ; and
have stages erected all along the shore for
salting and drying them. The best, largest,
and fattest cod, are those taken on the South-
side of the great bank, which is a kind of sub-
marine mountain, one hundred and fifty
leagues long ; those on the North-side are
much smaller.

The immense captures of cod fish at New-
foundland make but a small diminution,
when compared to their numbers ; and when
their provi>ion is exhausted there, or the
season for propagation returns, they go off to

tlie

OF BIRDS, riSH, Sec. 159

die polar seas, where they deposit their spawn
in full security : whence again want of food
forces them, as soon as the first more south-
ern seas are open, to repair southwar4 for sub-
sistence. Nor is this fish an unfrequent visi-
tor upon our own shores ; but the returns are
not so regular, nor do the captures bear any
proportion to those at Newfoundland.

The Haddock is a species of the Gadus, or
Cod, with a bearded mouth, and three fins
on the back ; the upper jaw longest, and the
tail a little forked.

The Whiting is another species of the cod,
but without a beard. — Both these species are
frequent in our seas, and much esteemed at
our tables.

The haddock and the whiting are perhaps
driven upon our shores rather b\' their fears
than by their appetites. Their migrations,
however, are regularly conducted, and their
appearance perfectly constant.

16'0 NATURAL HISTORY

ffm

THE CLUPEA, OR HERRING.

THE body of this fish is oblong; the head
has a small beak ; the giil-coveruig fin has
eight rays ; the belly fins frequently nine rays ;
and a scaly serrated line runs along the body
from head to tail. There aji'e eleven species.

1. The Common Herring has no spots, and
the under jaw is longer' tlian the upper one. — f
This fish was unknown to the ancients, as it
is seldom, if ever, found Southwards. A her-
ring dies immediately after it is taken out of
the water ; for this reason, perhaps, they are
incomparably better when dressed as soon as
caught, than on the follov/ing day.

Herrings are found in the highest northern
latitudes yet known, and at the same time
as low as the northern coasts of France,
beyond which they are rarely seen. On
the American coast they arc met with
in vast shoals as low as Carolina ; and such
is the annual inundation of them in Chessa-
peak, that they become absolutely a nuisance:

they

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 161

they are also found in the seas of Kamtschatka,
and probably they reach Japan. But their
great rendezvous is withhi the arctic circle,
where they continue for months to recruit
themseh'es after the fatigue of spawning ; th«
seas within that space swarming with insect
food in a far greater degree than that of our
warmer latitudes.

The immense shoals that visit cm' coasts
put themselves in motion in the spring, and
begin to appear oHT the Shetland islands in Apnl
and May; yet these are only tlie fore-runners
of the grand army, (so the Dutch denominate
them) that come in June, and whose extent is
such as to alter the very appearance of the
ocean : this body being usually divided into
distinct columns, of five or six miles in length,
and three or four in breadth, In fine weather
they reflect a variety of splendid colours like
a field of variegated gems ; sometimes driving
the waters betore them with a kind of ripling
noise— sometimes sinking for the space of ten
or fifteen minutes, and then rising again to the
surface.

The herrings are full of loeat the time they
arrive upon our coasts, and continue in peifec-'
tion till the beginning of winter, when they
deposit their spawn. The young herrings begin
VOL. IV, Y to

162 NATURAL HISTORY

to approach the shores in July and August ^
and are then from half an inch to two inches
lonaf. Some of the old herrinor continue on
our coast the whole year ; but the numbers that
remain admit of no comparison with those that
teturn : the young ones also are said to pursue
the same course, and return to their parental
haunts beneath the ice, to repair the destruc-
tion of their race made during the summer,
and to obtain a safe retreat from their numer't
ous enemies.

But the immediate cause of migration is
vario^usly accounted for : heuwenhoeck says,
that the Channel ever}'' year teems with an
innumerable quantity of worms, and little fish^
on which the herrings feed ; that they are a
Jcind of manna, which these fish come punc-^
tually to gather up : and when they have en-
tirely cleared the seas in the Northern parts of
Europe, they descend towards the South
where they are invited by a new stock of pro-
visions. Anderson is of opinion that they
would never depart from their most desirable
retreat in their icy, northern intrenchments,
did not their numbers render it necessary for
them to migrate ; and like bees from a hive,
they are compelled to seek fo^' other retreats.

Another

©F BiRBS, nsH, &r. 1G3

Another opinion is, that they remove for the
sake of depositing their spawn in warmer seas,
that will mature and vivify it more assuredly
than those of the frozen zone. Deficiency of
food cannot be so certainly the motive, as they
come to us full of fat, and on their return are
almost universally observed to be lean and mi-
serable. What their food is near the Pole, we
are not informed ; but, in our seas, they feed
much on crustaceous insects, and sometimes on
their own fry.

This partial migration, viewed in a moral
light, must excite our veneration and awe for
that Mighty Power which originally impressed
those creatures with an instinct that tends to
bless and enrich these islands ; and which
causes them at certain and invariable times to
quit the vast polar deeps, and offer them-
selves to our expecting fleets.

On their first irruption from their Northern
hives, they are surrounded by innumerable ene-
mies, all uniting in their destruction: nume-
rous flocks of the polar sea-fov^'ls watch the
outset of their migration, and spread extensive
ruin ; the fin-fish, the cachalot, the porpesse,
the grampus, and the shark, find them an easy
prey, and thin their squadrons by millions, and

Y 9 from

164 NA.TURAI. mSTOBY

fi'om these depredators they have no other
xneans of safety than crowding close together,
and leaving the outmost bands the danger of
being first devoured ; or by approaching the
first shores they can find, which, to the squa-
dron holding an eastern course, is Iceland,
where they cover an extent of shore not less
than the island itself.

The first opposition met with in their jour-?
pey southward, is from tl>e Shetland isles,
which divide the eastern army again into two
parts, and wiiere the fishermen, prepared for
their reception, take sometimes two thousand
barrels at a single draught. Hence they pass
the Western shores of Britain ; and fill eveiy
bay and creek with their numbers : others ad-
vance towards Yarmouth, the great and ancient
mart of herrings ; and pressing through the
British channel, in a great degree disappear.
From the Shetland isles, and after visiting the
Hebrides, a body proceeds to the north of Ire-
land, to feed and rejoice the inhabitants of most
of the coasts that border on the Irii^h sea. But
those brigades, as we may call them, thus sepa-
rated from the greater columns, are often ca-
pricious in their motions, and do not shew an
invariable attachment to their haunts.

Indeed

OF BIRDS, FISH, kc, 16^'

Indeed it appears from one circumstance
that these creatures are governed by a choice in
respect of the shores they pitch upon : or that
having fixed upon a shore, they will frequent it,
for seveml seasons, or indeed for several ages,
and then most capriciously forsake it. For
some ages the shores of Norway were the re-.
8ort for herrings, as the banks of Newfound-
land are for cod ; and thousands of European-
ships resorted thither. But some short time
previously to the year 1600, they forsook the
Norwegian coasts, and made the shores of
Germany their annual resort, where the Hanse-
towns derived much advantage from their cap«
ture and sale. For above a century, however,
their greatest colonies have visited the British
channel, and the Irish shores ; though for their
apparently capricious desertion it will not be
easy to assign a cause. This we may observe,
that from the earliest accounts of time, the
blessing of their annual visitation has never
been withdrawn from the whole, though it
may have been denied to particulars.

2. The Sprat is a native of the European
seas, greatly resembling the herring, though a
good deal smaller, and having thirteen rays in
the back fm . They are caught in the Thames

from

165 NATURAL HISTORY

from the beginning of November till March,
and afford very seasonable rehef to the poor
of the metropolis. They are sometimes pick-
led,and rendered in flavour scarcely inferior to
anchovies; from which they are only to be dis^
tinguished by their bones being indissoluble. At
Yarmouth they are cured like red herrings.

3. The^/o^<2, or Shad, has a forked snout,
and black spots on its sides : it frequents the
river Thames about the latter end of May, or
the beginning of June, and is considered a very
coarse and insipid fish. But the Severn affords
this fish in very great perfection, and on its
first appearance, which is usually in May, or in
very warm seasons in A pril, it is esteemed a de-
licacy, especially in that part of the river that
flows near Gloucester, where they are taken in
nets,and often sell dearer than salmon. TheLon^
don fishmongers distinguish the Severn from
the Thames shad, by calling the former alose.
The old fish come from the sea into the river
in full roe, but where they spawn is not deter-
mined, for their fry has not yet been ascer-
tained. The Severn shad is sometimes, though
rarely, caught in the Thames, and is called
by the fishermen aVis, {properly alose). They
continue in the Severn about two months, and

are

OF BIRDS, FISH, i&C. 167

ate succeeded by a variety called the twaite,
which is taken in great numbers, but held in as
little regard as the shad of the Thames. The
chief difference between these varieties is, that
the twaite has three or four black spots on the
sides, placed one under the other : if only one
spot, it is always near the gill. The weight of
the shad is seldom less than four pounds ; that
of the twaite never exceeds tvro. Ancient natu-
ralists say, that the shad is a fish of passage in
the Nile ; that it is also found in the Mediter-
ranean, near Smyrna, and oil theroast of Egypt,
near Rosetta ; and that in the months of De-
cember and January it ascends the Nile as high
as Cairo, where the people stuff it with pot-
marjoram ; and when dressed in that manner,
it will nearly intoxicate the eater.

4. The Encrasicohis, or Anchovy, is abont
three inches long, and has its upper jaw longer
than the under. They are taken in vast quan-
tities in the Mediterranean, and are brought
over here pickled. The great fishery is at
Georgia, a small isle westward of Leghorn.

Mr. Walcott describes the anchovy as fol-
lows:— '* The nose," says he, ** is pointed ;
** edge of the jaws finely serrated ; eyes large ;
*' body round and slender ; back of a dusky

*' green

168 KATURAL HISTORY

" green colour ; sides and belly of a silvery
" wliite; between the ventral fins along point-
" ed scale ; tail forked ; length six inches and
•' a half.

*' At different seasons it frequents th« At-
" lantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea ; pas-
*' sing through the Straights of Gibraltar to-
** wards the Levant in the months of May,
" June, and July. The greatest fishery is at
•* Gorgona a small west isle of Leghorn, whei^
*' they are taken at night in nets, into which
*' they are allured by lights fixed to the stern
'* of the vessels. W h en cured , their heads are
'' cut off, their gall and guts taken out, and
" then salted and packed in barrels ; it scaioe
" Uv^eds be mentioned, that being put on tlie
'' fire, they dissolve in almost any liquor: they
*' are well tasted w^hen fresh."

6. The Sineosis is very like the common
herring, hut broader ; it has no teeth, and is a
native of China.

6. The Atherinoldes has a shining line on
each side, and small belly-fins ; is a native of
Surinam.

7. The Sma\\?iS yellow fins ; the mouth is
flat, the upper jaw very short, and the body of
a thming silver colour: — it is a native of Asia.

8. The

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 169

8. The TJirissa; — 9. Sternicia ; — 10. Mysfus ;
— 11. Tropica; these are natives of the Indian
hemisphere, but afford httle interest or amuse-
in their particular dehneation.

— — —— — ^»— ^ — — — M^

THE CARP,

THE mouth of this fish is toothless ; there
are three rays in the gills ; and the belly-fins
have frequently nine rays ; the term cyprinus
is used as a generic name to this fish, of which
naturalists have enumerated thirty-one species,
principally distinguished by the number of
rays in the vent fin.

Thecarp was introduced into England about
the year 1514, by Leonard Maschal, to whom
we are likewise indebted for that excellent
apple the pepin. They are not to be found ia
Russia, even at this day, and in Sweden they
are caught only in the ponds of the nobility.
They chiefly abound in the rivers and lakes
of Polish Prussia, where they are sometimes
taken of a vast size. They are there a great
VOL. IV. Z article

170 NATURAL HISTORY

article of commerce, and sent in well-boats
to Sweden and Russia. The merchants pur-
chase them (Jut of the waters of the noblesse
of the country, who draw a good revenue from
this article. They are also sometimes found
in the harbour of Dantzic.

Carp live very long. Gesner relates an in-
stance of one that was near a hundred years
old. They also grow to such a size, that au-
thors speak of carp weighing 200 pounds
weight, and five feet in length. The carp is
a prodigious breeder ; its quantity of roe has
been found sometimes so great, that when
taken out, and weighed against the fish itself,
the former has preponderated.

From the spawn of this fish, caviare is made
for the Jews, who hold the sturgeon in abhor-
rence. The carp is extremely cunning, and
on that account is sometimes styled the ricer"
fox. They will often leap over the nets, and
in that manner escape ; at other times, they
will immerse themselves so deep in the mud
as to let the net pass over them. They are
also very shy in taking a bait; yet at the
spawning time they are so simple as to suffer
themselves to be tickled, handled, and caught
by any body who will attempt it.

This

OF BIRDS, nStt, &C. 171

This fiah is apt to mix its milt with the roe
of other fish; whence is produced a spurious
breed, as has been observed in the offspring of
the carp and tench, which bore the greatest
resemblance to the first. The same has also
been observed of the carp and bream.

Mr. J. Rheinhold Forster, in the PhiloscJ-
phical Transactions for 1771, Art 37, gives us
the following obsenations on the subject of
Carp :—

" In Polish Prussia," saya he, " and many
** other parts of Germany, the sale of carp
** constitutes a part of the revenue of the no-
•* bility and gentry ; so that the proper ma*
" nagement of that fish is reduced to a kind of
*' system, founded on the experience of several
" generations. The author here communi-
** cates all the particulars which he has been
** able to collect from the practice of these ex-
** perienced breeders and feeders of carp, and
** from his own observation. He recollects to
** have seen some of these fish, thus treated and
•* maintained, above a yard long, and 25
** pounds weight ; but had no opportunity of
•* ascertaining their age. In the pond, how-
** ever, at Charlottenburg, he adds, a palace
•* belonging to the king of Prussia, I saw more
Z 2 " than

172 NATURAL HISTORY

*' than two or three hundredcarp, between two
•• and three feet long ; and I was told by the
*« keeper they were between 50 and 60 years
*' standing* They were tame, and came to the
** shore in order to be fed; they swallowed
** with ease a piece of white bread of the size
** of half a halfpenny roll."

We shall only add, (not certainly for the
gratification of the epicure, but to ascertain a
curious fact in natural history, of which we, and
possibly others, may have hitherto doubted)
the author's testimony concerning the possibi-
lity of the carp's not only living for a consider-
able time out of water, but of its gTowing fat
In its new element. The author has seen the
experiment successfully tried, and attended to
the whole process,ina nobleman's house where
he then resided, in the principality of A nhalt
Dessau. " The fish being taken out of the
*' water, is wrapped up in a large quantity of
" wet moss, spread on a piece of net, which
*' is then gathered into a purse ; in such a
** manner, however, as to allow him room to
** breathe. The net is then plunged into wa-
" ter, and hung up to the ceiling of a cellar.
*' At first the dipping must be repeated every
** three or lour hours ; but afterwards the carp

. . ** need

or BIRDS, FISH, &c. 173

*' need only to be plunged into the -water once
** in about six or seven hours. Bread soaked
" in milk is first given him in small quantities.
** In a short time the fish v^^ill bear more, and
" grow under this seemingly unnatuml treat-*
" ment"

Mr. Daines Barrington, in a note confirms
part of the preceding account, by mentioning
the practice of a certain fishmonger near Clare-
market, who, in the winter, frequently expos-
ed a bushel at least of carp and tench forsale^
in the same dry vessel, for six or seven hours ;
many of which were not sold, and yet con-«
tinned in health though breathing nothing but
air, during the time above-mentioned, for se-
veral days successively.

The carp is the most valuable of all kinds of
fish for the stocking of ponds. It is very quick
in its growth, and brings forth the spawn three
times a year, so that the increase is very great.
The females do not begin to breed till eight
or nine years old ; so that in breeding-ponds
a supply must be kept of carp of that age.
The best judges allow, that in stocking a
breeding-pond, four males should be allowed to
twelve females. The usual growth of a carp is
from two to three inches in length in a year ;

but

174 kXtural history

but in ponds which receive the fattening of
common sewers, they have been known to^
grow from five inches to eighteen in one year.
A feeding pond of one acre in extent, will feed
very well 300 c-arp of three years old, 300 of
two years, and 400 of one year old* Carp de-
light greatly in ponds that have marley sides ;
they love also clay-ponds well sheltered from
the winds, and grown with weeds and lon^
grass at the edges, which they feed upon in
the hot months. Carp and tench thrive very
fast in ponds and rivers near the sea, where the
\vater is a little brackish ; but they are not so
Well tasted as those which live in fresh water.
Grains, blood, chicken-guts, and the like, may
at times be thrown into carp-ponds, to help to
fatten the fish. To make them grow large and
fat, the growth of grass under the water should
be encouraged by all means possible. For this
purpose, as the water decreases in the summer,
the sides of the pond left naked and dry, should
be well raked with an iron rake to destroy all the
weeds, and cut up the surface of the earth: hay-
seed should then be sown plentifully in these
J)laces ; and more ground prepared in the same
manner, as the water falls more and more
away. By this means there will be a fine and

plentiful

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 175

plentiful growth of young grass along the sides
of the pond to the water's edge ; and when the
rains fill up the pond again, this will be all
buried under water, and will make a feeding
place for the lish, where they will come early
in the morning, and fatten greatly upon what
they find there.

The method of fattening carps by castra-
tion, is a discovery in epicureanism made by
IMr. Tull, famous for his improvements in
husbandry ; he communicated the secret to Sir
Hans Sloane, in whose presence he performed
the operation, by cutting open a carp, and
shewing the ovary with its canal, leading into
the part called the cloaca. He then performed
the operation of castration on a second, by
opening the ovary, and filling up the wound
with the scrapings of a black hat. The cas^
trated carp being put into water with six live
ones, seemed only a little less brisk in swim-t
ming. Carp thus mutilated is said to excel the
others in delicacy of flavor as much as a capon
does a cock, or a fat ox exceeds a bull. The
effect of castrating fish seems not improbable
from its analogy with what we experience in
land animals.

176 NATURAL HISTORr

GOLD AND SILVER FISH.

THESE are a species of carp distinguished
by the name of Auratus Cyprmus ; a small fish
domesticated by the Chinese, and generally
kept for ornament by great people in their
courtsand gardens. They breed them in small
ponds made for the purpose ; in basons, and
even in procelain vessels.

They were first introduced into England
about the year 1691, but were not generally
known till 1728 ; when a great number were
brought over, and presented first to Sir Mat-
thew Decker, and by him circulated round the
neighbourhood of London, from whence they
have been distributed to most parts of the
country.

The golden fish is not bigger than our pil-
chard. The male is of a bright red colour
from the top of the head to the middle of the

body

Ot BiftDS, Eisiij &c. 177

body ; the rest is of a gold colour ; but it is
so bright and splendid, that the finest gild-
ing according to Father Le Compte, cannot
approach it. The female is white; but its
tail and half of its body, resemble the lustre
of silver.

Du Halde, however, observes, that a red
and white colour are not always the distin-
guishing n*iarks of the male and female ; but
tliat the fertiales are known by several white
s^ots vi'hich are seen round the orifices, which
serve them as 6fg"ans of hearing ; and the
males, by having these spots much brighter.

Gold Fish are light and lively ; tli^y love
to sport on the surface of the water, ^don be-
come familiarised, and may even be accustom-
ed to come and recieive theiV food on sounding
a: small rattle. Great care is' necessary to
preserve fheni ; for they are extremely deli-
cate, and sensible to the least injuries of the
air : — a loud noise, such as that of thunder,
or a cannon ; a strong srtiell ; a violent shak-
ing of the vessel, or a single touch, will
often destroy them.

These fish live with little nourishment;"
tho^ small worms that are engendered in' the
water, or the earthy particles^ that ari$ mixed'
with it, are sufficient fof their f)o'd'. Tli^

Y<3rC, IV. A a Chinese,

178 NATURA.L HISTORY

Chinese, however, take care, from time t©
time, to throw into the bason and reservoirs,
where they are kept, small balls of paste,
which they are very fond of when dissolved ;
they give them also lean pork, dried in the
sun, and reduced to a fine delicate powder,
and sometimes snails : the sHme which these
insects leave at the bottom of the vessel is a
great delicacy for them, and they hasten
eagerly to feed on it. In winter they are re-
moved from the court to a warm chamber,
where they are generally kept shut up in a
porcelain vessel.

In warm countries these fish multiply fast,
provided care be taken to collect their spawn,
\yhich floats on the water, and which they
almost entirely devour. This spawn is put in-
to a particular vessel exposed to the sun, and
preserved there until vivified by heat. Gold-
fish, however, seldom multiply when they are
kept in close vases, because they are then too
much confined. In order to render them fruit-
ful, they must be put into reservoirs of conside-
rable depth, in some places at least, and which
are constantly supplied with fresh water.

At a certain time of the year, (says Grosier,
in his description of China,) a prodigious
number of barks may be seen in the great

river

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 17p

river Yang-tse-hiang, which go thither to
purchase the spawn of these fish. Towards
the month of May, the neighbouring inhabi-
tants shut up the river in several j)]aces with
mats and hurdles, which occupy an extent of
almost nine or ten leagues, and thev leave
only a space in the middle, sufficient for the
passage of barks.

The spawn of the fish, which the Chi-
nese can distinguish at first sight, althou-h a
stranger could perceive no traces of it in the
water, is stopped by these hurdles ; the water
mixed with spawn is then drawn up, and after
it has been put into large vessels, it is sold to
merchants who transport it afterwards to every
part of the empire. This water is sold b^
measure, and purchased by those who are
desirous of stocking their ponds and reservoirs
with fish.

The Gold and Silver Fish, though original-
ly natives of China and Japan, are vet be-
come so well reconciled to our climate', as to
thrive and multiply very fast in our ponds
and stews. They are also frequently kept in
glass bowls, in which we have an opportuni-
ty of observing their actions and propensi,
ties better than we possibly can in their imtu-
ral state : nor can any thing be more amusing

^^ ^ 2 than

ISO J^ATI?JIAL JfJSIOUX

Jbajj f uq{) pbs^rvfitions ; the double refrac-
tions of the glass and >vater Represent thei»,
^hen moving, in a changeable variety of di-
jpensions, shades, and colours; vi^hile the two
p^ediums, assisted by the concavo-convex
^hape of the vessel, magnify and distort them
yastly ; «ot to mention, that the introduction
of another element and its inhabitants into our
parlours, engages the fancy in ^ yery agree-
jjble manner. And this simple exhibition is
^S pleasing as th^ absurd introduction of
thirds apparently surrounded by the fi^h, is
absurd and unnatural.

Some that delight in these fish have adopt-
ed a notion that they need no aliment ; it is
true indeed that they will subsist for a long
time without any apparent food but what
^ey can collect from pure water frequently
changed ; yet they must draw some support
froffl animalcula, and other nourishment
supplied by the water ; because, though they
s^eem to eat nothing, yet they frequently void a
sort of excrement ; and that they are best pleas-
ed with this jejurie diet, may easily be confut-
ed, since if you toss ihem crumbs, they will
seize them with great readiness, not to say gree-
diness : however, bread should be given spar-
ingly, lest turning sour, it corrupt the

water.

OF BIRDSj FISH, kc. 181

water. They will also feed on the water plant
lemna^ (duck*s meat,) and also on small fry.

When they want to move a little, they
gently protrude themselves with their pecto-
ral fins ; but it is with their strong muscular
tails only that they and all fish shoot along
with such inconceivable rapidity. In these
vessels, the dying of fish may be observed
with accuracy : as soon as the creature sick-
ens, the head sinks lower and lower, till at
last it stands as it were upon it ; then get-
ting weaker, and losing all poise, the tail
turns over, and at last it floats on the surface
of the water, with its belly uppermost. The
reason why fish, when dead, swim in this
manner, is obvious ; because, when the body
is no longer balanced by the fins of the belly,
the broad muscular back preponderates by its
own gravity, and turns the belly uppermost,
as lighter, from its being a cavity, and be-
cause it contains the swimming bladders.,
which cpntribute to render it buoyant.

It has been generally said, that the eyes of
fish are immoveable ; but these fish apparent-
ly turn th^m forward or backward in their
sockets, as their occasions require. They
take little notice of a lighted candle, though
applied close t<? their heads^ but flounce and

seem

182 NATURAL HISTORY

seem much frightened by a sudden stroke of
the hand against the support whereon the
bowl is hung, especially when they have
been motionless, and are perhaps asleep. As
fish have no eye-lids, it is hot easy to discern
when they are sleeping because their eyes are
always open.

TJUE BARBEL.

THIS fish belongs to the genus Cyprinus ;
it is about the length of three feet, and will
weigh eighteen pounds ; the belly white ; the
dorsal fin is armed with a remarkably strong
spine, sharply serrated, with which it can in-
flict a very severe and dangerous wound on
the incautious handler, and evon do much
damage to nets.

The barbel is so extremely coarse as to have
been neglected by the ancients : they are

indeed

jsuri>ti.nG.rLa.

Flvii/nU-r. 121 .

lii',irhXL7.

ffTki^y.IlS .

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 183

indeed the worst and coarsest of fresh water
fish, and seldom eaten but by the poorer sort
of people, who sometimes boil them with a
bit of bacon to give them a relish. Their roe
is very noxious, affecting those who happen
unwarily to eat it with a nausea, vomiting,
purging, and a slight swelling.

They frequent the still and deep parts' of
rivers, and live in society, rooting like swine
with their noses in the soft banks. The bar-
bel is so tame as to suffer itself to be caught
by the hand ; and people have been known
to take numbers by diving for them. In
summer they move about during night in
search of food ; but towards autumn, and dur-
ing winter, confine themselves to the deep-
est holes.

THE TENCH

IS the Enghsh name for the tinea of mo-
dern authors : according to- Aitedi, it is a spe-
cies

184 NATtlRAL HISTORY

ci«s of the carp. It is thick aiid bulky in pro-
portion to its length. The cok)UT of the back
is dusky : the dorsal and ventrai fins of ih^
same colour ; the head, sides, and belly^ of a
greenish cast, most beautifully mixed witli
gold, which is in its greatest splendour wheri
the fish is in the highest season. They love
still waters, and are rarely found in rivers ;
they are very foolish, and easily caught.

The tench is a well-tasted fish, though it
lives in foul water, and seems to fe^d very
coarsely. By the ancients it was held in little
repute. It is always found in the muddiest
parts of ponds, and where there are rhost
weeds;

In this country it is reckoned a wholesome,
and even a delicious food ; but the Germans are
of a different opinion : they call it in contempt
the shoemaker. Gesner even says that it is insi-
pid and unwholesome. It does not commonly
exceed four or five pounds in weight, though
some have been known to weigh ten or twenty.

The slime of the skin of this fish is said to
be of a healing nature, and to cure all fresh
wounds ; and it is-* pretended that the other
fish know this property in it, and always apply
tcrthe t^ch \T!i€sHi-wbtindx?a: Whether this opi-
nion

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 185

nion be true or false, the tench has obtained in
consequence of it the name o^thejisiisp/iysician*
The pike is said to pay such respect to thisfish,
on this account, that he never seizes him. But
these things are more easily fancied and said,
than proved; and, if it be true that the pike
does not eat the tench, it may be resolved into
a much more natural cause, by supposing the
slime of the tench too disagreeable in his sto-
mach to suffer it.

THE CHUB.

THIS fish is of the same genus with the fore-
going ; it is x^ery coarse and full of bones ; fre-
quenting the deep holes of rival's, and in sum-
mer commonly lying on the surface, beneath
the shade of some tree or bush. Some have
been known to weigh eigiit or nine pounds.

The chub is a very timid fish, sinking to the
bottom on the least alarm, even at the passing
of a shadow, but they will soon resume theif
situation. It feeds on worm?, caterprllars;
VOL. IV. B b grass-

18() NATURAL HISTORY

grass-hoppers, and other coleopterous msects
that happen to fall into the water; and will
even feed on cray-fish. It will rise to a fly.

THE BLEAK.

THIS fish is from two to five or six inches
in length ; they are veiy common in many of
our rivers, and keep together in large shoals.

During the month of July, (say Goldsmith
and Pennant) there appear in the Thames,
near Blackwall and Greenwich, innumerable
multitudes of small fish, known to the Lon-
doners by the name of white-bait. They are
esteemed very delicious when fried with fine
flour, and occasion during the season, a vast
resort of the lower orders of epicures to the ta-
verns at the places where they are taken. There
are various suppositions concerning these fish,
all of which terminate in reckoning them the
fry of some other fish. Mr. Pennant thinks
they are of the carp genus, though he cannot

positively

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 187

positively determine the species to which they
belong. They certainly have a greater simila-
rity to the bleak than to any other species ; yet
he thinks they cannot be the young fry of that,
because the bleak is found in many of the
British streams, but the white-bait only in the
Thames.

At certain seasons the bleak seems to be in
great agonies : they tumble about near the
surface of the water, and are incapable of
swimming far from the place ; but in about
two hours they recover and disappear. Fish
thus affected, the Thames fishermen call mad
bleaks.

They seem also to be so troubled with a spe-
cies of gordiaSy or hair-worm, that they rise
to the surface and die.

THE GUDGEON.

THE body of this fish is round ; the head

broader than the body, with two little holes

between the eyes, one before the other ; the gill-

B b 2 membrane

ISB N^TUliAL HISTORY

membraTie with six sprines. Of six species,
the two chief are,

1. The Gobio, or river bull-head, is very
common in all our clear brooks ; it lies almost
always at the bottom, or under a stone : it de-
ftosits its spawn in a hole which it forms among
the gravel, and quits it with great reluctance.
It feeds on water insects. Redi savs that this
fish has no air-bladder. It seldom exceeds the
length of three inches and a half. The head
is large, broad, flat, and thin at its circumfe-
rence, being well adapted for insinuating itself
under stones: on the middle part of the co-
vers of the gills is a small crooked spine, turn^
ing inwards. The eyes are very small ; the
irides yellow ; the body grows slender towards
the tail, and is very smooth. The colour of
this fish is as disagreeable as its form, being
dusky, mixed with a dirty yellow; the belly
whitish. The taste, however, is excellent.

2. The Scorpio, or Father-lasher, is not
uncommon on the rocky coasts of this island ;
it lurks under stones, and will take a bait. —
It seldom exceeds eight or nine inches in
length. The head is large, and has a most
formidable appearance, being armed with vast
spines, which it canopposeto any enemy that

attacks

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 189

attacks it,, by swelling out its cheeks and gill-
covers to a large size. The nose, and space
contiguous to the eyes, are furnished with
short sharp spines ; the covers of the gills are
terminated by exceeding long ones, which are
strong, and very sharp. The mouth is large;
the jaws covered with very small teeth ; the
roof of the mouth is furnished with a tri-
angular spot of very minute teeth.
' This species is veiy frequent in the New-
foundland seas, where it is called scalping ; it
is also as common on the coast of Greenland,
in deep water near the shore. It forms a princi-
pal food of the natives, and the soup made from
it is said to be agreeable as well as wholesome.

CORYPH-^XA.

THERE are twelve species of this fish,
most of them natives of foreign seas. The
general characters are, the head is declined
and truncated ; the membrane covering the

gills

T90 natural history

gills has six rays, and the back fin runs the
whole length of the back. The most remark-
able are the blue and parrot fish.

The Blue Fish is described by Catesby as
having its head of a very odd structure, resem-
bling that of the spermaceti whale ; the mouth
is small ; each mandible is armed with a single
row of even teeth, so closely joined, that they
seem entire bones ; the iris of the eye is red.
On the back is a long pliant fin, somewhat in-
dented on the edge ; behind the gills are two
fins, one under the abdomen, and another be-
hind the anus. The tail is forked, and the
whole fish entirely blue. They are taken
on the coasts of the Bahama islands, and in
most of the seas between the tropics.

The Parrot Fish has a large mouth, paved
at it were with blunt teeth, closely connected,
like the sea-wolf The body is covered with
large green scales ; the eyes are red and yel-
low ; the upper part of the head brown, the
lower part and the gills blue, bordered with
a dusky red , a streak of red extends from the
throat behind the gills, at the upper end of
which is a bright yellow spot. The fins are
five in number, one extendingalmost the length
of the back, of a bay or cinnamon colour;

there

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. IQl

there are two behind the gills, blended with
black, green, and purplish colours, with the
upper edge verged witli blue; under the anus
extends another long narrow green fin, witli a
hstot red through the middle of it; at the basis
of the tail on each side is a large narrow spot.
The tail is large, forked, and green, with a
curved red line running through the middle,
parallel to the curve, and ending in two points!
This fish is more esteemed for beauty than
for the delicacy of its taste. They are taken
on the coasts of Hispaniola, Cuba, and the
Bahama islands.

THE EXOCETUS VOLITANS, 01' FLYIXG-FISH.

THIS fish is generally about nine inches
long, and full four in circumference at the
thickest part. The skin is uncommonly firm,
and the scales large and thick. The eye in'
consequence of the largeness of the head is
admirably situated for discovering danger,' or

prey ;

10^ NATURAL HISTORY

prey ; and when pushed out of the socket,
which the fioh can do considerahly, its sphere
of vision is greatly increased.

The wing is no other than a large pectoral
fm, composed of seven or eight ribs or pinions,
connected by thin membraneous webs, from
the root to the very summit. The fore part of
the body is fortified just behiad the gills by a
fiat bone on each side, answering all the pur-
poses of clavicles and scapulae in land animals;
and on the posterior part of it, the articulation
is made with the wing.

In flying, not only their wings and fins are
much expanded, but also their tail ; they skim
along the surface of the deep with great velo-
city, somewhat in the manner of a swallow, but
in straight lines; and from the blackness of their
backs, the whiteness of their bellies, and forked
expanded tails, they have much the same ap-
pearance. They fly fifty or sixty yards at one
stretch; and repeat the exertion again and again
by a momentary touch of the surfa,ce, which
gives them new vigour for a new departure.

They generally rise in shoals ; and are found
in great quantities between lat. 15 and lOdeg.N.
and from 20 to 30 W. as also between the tropics
in the Atlantic, and in the Indian ocean ; and

the

Of birds, fish, &c. 193

the power of exerting itself in both elements^
is said to furnish one of the most entertaining
spectacles those seas can exhibits The efforts
to seize on the one sidej and the arts of
escaping on the other, are perfectly amusing*
The shark, the porpoise, the dolphin, and the
dorado, are seen upon this occasion, darting
after their prey, which will not leave the
water, while it has the advantage of swim-^
ming, in the beginning of the chace. But,
like a hunted hare, being tired at last, it
then has recourse to another expedient for
safety, by flight. The long fins, which
began to grow useless in the water, are now
exerted in a different manner, and in a
different direction ; by this means the timid
little animal rises from the water, and flutters
over its surface, for sixty or seventy yards,
till the muscles, employed in moving the
wings, are enfeebled by that particular
manner of exertion, and the fish is obliged
to immerge into its own element. In a short
time, however, they acquire a fresh power
of renewing their efforts in the water, and
the animal is capable of proceeding wnth
some velocity by swimming. But still the
active enemy keeps it in view, and drives
it again from the deep ; till, at length, the
VOL. IV. C c poor

194 NATURAL HISTORY

poor little creature is seen to dart to shorter
distances, to flutter with greater effort, and
to drop down at last into the mouth of its
fierce pursuer. But not the aquatic race
alone, all animated nature seems combined
«,gainst this little fish, which seems to be
possessed of double powers, only to be subject
to greater dangers. For though it should
escape from its enemies of the deep, yet the
tropic bird and the albatross, the boody and
the man of war, are for ever upon the wing
to seize it. Thus pursued in either element,
it sometimes seeks refuge from a new enemy ;
and it is not unfrequent for whole shoals of
them to fall on shipboard, where they furnish
man with an object of useful curiosity. But
it is suspected from this last circumstance,
that their vision in air is not very distinct, as
they strike against whatever happens to be
in their way.

The taste of this fish somewhat resembles
mackerel: — they are described by the an-
cients, as Johnson observes, under the name
of hirundo.

The slender fiying-jish agrees with the
former in having the sides of the belly ridged,
but it may be distinguished from it at first
sight by the slenderness of the body, and the

great

Ot" BIRDS, FISH, &C. 1<)5

great length of the ventral fins. This species
has been generally confounded with the
former, or overlooked. Probably the venti'al
fins may assist its flight. It is not known
what ocean or sea it inhabits.

The great fiymg-Jish agrees with the
slender one in the great length of its ventral
fins, but differs in having a thick body.
This fish is nearly two feet long ; the common
flying-fish not more than .eight, nor the
slender sort more than six inches.

Flying-fish are met with in vast shoals
between the tropics, but are not confined to
them ; they have been seen, though rarely,
and few in number, as low as the latitude of
40 deg. on the coast of North America, and
53 deg. of Europe.

The trigla volitans, or kite-fishy as de-
scribed by Walcot, is here subjoined, from
its apparent, or transitory resemblance to
those already mentioned.

The head is square ; two strong spines at
the hinder gill cover ending in a long strong-
spine ; body roundish and slender ; on the
scales run lengthwise, a scalloped thin ridge ;
between the dorsal fins a single short spine ;
ventral fins very large, reaching to the tail ;
four appendages under the throat, united by
C c 2 a web ;

196 NATURAL HISTORY

a web ; tail forked ; length one foot and a
half. When fresh taken, the back is either
a light or dusty red ; the belly white ; and
the ventral fins prettily spotted.

The kite-fish inhabits the Atlantic and In-
dian oceans, and the Mediterranean sea;
when pursued by the dorado, &c. quits the
water, and by means of its ventral fins
flies in the air about a stone's cast.

It is common in the fish markets of Italv,
Sicily, and Malta,

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. l97

THE ECHENEIS, OR SUCKING PISH*.

THE accounts which the ancients have
transmitted to us of this fish are much too
marvellous to deserve notice, nor is the con-
sistency of modern writers on the pecuHarity
of this animal, more to be relied on. The
best description is that of Catesby, which
with some additions by Walcot, we shall
chiefly follow.

The Echeneis Remora is usually about a foot,
(Walcot says two feet) in length ; the head
large, equal in bigness to the body, which
grows smaller gradually to the tail, which is
small. It has six fins, two growing from
behind the gills, two more under the throat,
a long one on the back, and opposite to it
under the belly, another of the same form and
size ; the tail is forked.

What

* Commerson relates, that when a Sucking-fish is put
into a vessel filled with sea water, frequently renewed, it
may be kept alive for several hours, and that in this state,
■without any foreign body to which it can adhere, it remains
upon its back and swims in that extraordinary position.

WS NATURAL HISTORY

What this fish has peculiar to itself is, that
the crown of the head is flat, and of an oval
form, with a ridge, or rising, running length-
ways, and crossways to this, sixteen ridges,
with hollow furrows between, by which
structure it can fix itself to any animal or
other substance, as they are often found ad-
hering to the sides of ships, and the bodies of
sharks and other large fish. But the notion
that this small fish was able to stop a ship
under sail, or a whale in swimming, is en-
tirely fabulous ; all they can do is no more
than what shells, or corals, and other foul-
nesses occasion, viz. to make her sail some-
what the slower. Catesby adds, that he has
taken five of them from off" the body of a
shark, which were fixed on so fast to different
parts of his body, that it required great
strength to separate them. " I have also seen
them, says he, disengaged and swimming very
deliberately near the shark's mouth, without
his attempting to swallow them, the reason of
which I am not able to give."

The sucking-fish is esteemed tolerably good
eating ; though what Op plan and Pliny relate
of its powers in stopping a galley with four
hundred rower?, and a ship in full sail, merit
no credit ; yet like the marvellous accounts of

some

OF »IRD6, FISH, &C. 190

some otfier creatures, this appears to be not
\yholly without foundation. Abbe Fortissays,
that once sailing in the Gulph of Venice in a
small bark, the man at the helm suddenly
called to his companion to kill a remora, which
had fixed itself to the rudder, and which did
then, as he had often experienced before, sen-
sibly both retard, and alter the course of the
vessel. Thus what might have happened to
a boat, is by Oppian and Pliny transferred to
a galley, or ship.

L.-.MJmi|il Wf

THE EEL MURENA.

THIS is one of the soft-finned apodal fish ;
properly characterised under that head, and
so generally known as to preclude further
description.

The eel is possessed of a power of climbing
over any obstacle ; for by applying its gluti-
nous and slimy body to the surface of the ob-
ject it desires to surmount, it can thus creep
up locks, weirs, and every thing that would
-prevent its ascending the current of the
stream.

We

200 NATURAL HISTORY

We have already noticed several fish that
mount up rivers to deposit their spawn ; there
are others that descend the fresh water stream
to bring forth their young in the sea : — Rhedi
places the eel in this number.

About the month of August annually these
creatures take the opportunity of the most ob-
scure nights, and when the rivers are flooded
by accidental rains to seek the ocean. When
they have reached the sea, and produced their
young, {for they are viviparous) they again
ascend the stream, at different times, as op-
portunity offers, or as the season is favorable.
Their passage usually begins about the end of
January, and continues till towards the end
of May, when they ^re taken in the river
Amo, by millions, and so small, that an
almost incredible number of them goes to a
pound weight. In England it is certain that
they descend the rivers after floods in great
abundance, and are thus caught in nets.

Animody tes, or sand-eel y belongs to the above
genus. This fish resembles an eel, and seldom
exceeds a foot in length. The head of the
ammodytes is compressed, and narrower than
the body ; the upper jaw is narrower than
the under, the body is cylindrical with scales,

hardly

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 201

hardly perceptible. There is but one species
of the ammodytes, viz. the tohianus, or kiiince,
a native of Europe. This fish gathers itself
into a circle, and pierces the sand with its head
in the centre. It is found in most of our sandy
shores during some of the summer months; it
conceals itself, on the recess of the tides, be-
neath the sand, in such places where the water
is left, at the depth of about a foot ; and is in
some places dug out, in others dmvvn up *by
means of a hook contrived for that purpose,
l^liey are commonly used as baits for other
fish, but they are also very delicate eating*
They are found in the stomach of the por-
pesse ; a proof that the last roots up the sand
with its nose, as hogs do the ground.

THE PIK£*

THIS fish was but Uttle known to the an-
cients, although it is a fresh-water lish and
so common in every part of Europe. It is of
VOL. ly. D d au

209 NATURAL HISTORY

au oblong figure, with a large mouth, well
furnished with teeth, and is likewise extremely
vomcious. It feeds on other fish, insects, wa-
ter-rats, frogs, and aquatic birds, when it can
catch them. It is likewise fond of eating the
eggs of other fish, and will devour every thing
in a fish-pond, if it be suffered to remain there
for any length of time. But as the pike is
reckoned a good dish, his days are greatly
abridged ; yet, in the opinion of many natu-
ralists, it is the longest lived of all fish. The
larger the pike, the coarser the food, and vice
versa. This fish is peculiarly prolific, for we
have counted in the body of a female pike
about one hundred and fifty thousand eggs.
These pikes frequently swallow other fish, as
large as themselves ; they seize them always
by the head, and digest one part of their prey,
before they can swallow or draw into their
mouths the other. And what is particular in
natural history, the pike having ravaged a
pond, will attack and devour one another
as before mentit)ned . The pike is remarkably
long lived : in the year 1523 was caught in
Suabia, a very large pike, who appeared very
old, and, on examining it, they found a brass
ring in one of his nostrils, on which was read

a Latin

OJ BIRDS, FISH, &C. 203

a Latin inscription, the purport of which was,
The Emperor, Frederic 11. has thrown me into
this pond with his own hands, the bth of Octo-
ber, 1262. From hence they concluded, that
this pike had inhabited that pond for above
960 years. The eggs of this fish are highly
unwholesome and even dangerous, but their
fat, liver, gall, and jaw^-bones pulverised, are
useful in physic.

The pike has been poetically styled the ty-
rant of the watery plain; and, in fact, in jno-
portion to its strength and celerity, he is the
most active and voracious of the freyh water
fish. He will attack every fish less than him-
self, and is sometimes seenchoaked by attempt-
ing to swallow such as are too large. It is
immaterial of what species the animal it pur-
sues appears to be, whether of another or its
own ; all are indiscriminately devoured ; so
that every fish owes its safety to its minute-
ness, its celerity, or its courage: nor does the
pike confine itself to feed on fish and frogs ;
it will draw down the water-rats and the
young ducks as they are swimming above.

Gesner relate? a story of a mule that stoop-
ed to drink in the water, when a famished
pike, that was near, seized it by the nose,
D d 2 nor

204 NATURAL HISTORY

nor was it disengaged till the beast flung it on
shore.

So great is the rapacity of the pike, that he
will contend with the otter for his prey, and
even endeavour to force it from him. For
this reason it is dreaded by all other fish; and
the small ones shew the same uneasiness and
detestation at the presence of their tyrant, as
the little birds do at the sight of a hawk or
an owl. When the pike lies asleep near the
surface, as is frequently the case, the lesser
fish are often observed to swim round it in
vast numbers, with a mixture of caution and
terror.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 205

THE MACKEREL SCOMBER.

THIS is a salt-water fish without scales;
its body is round and fleshy, terminating al-
most in a point at each extremity. It is or-
dinarily about a foot long; when in the water
it appears yellow, and when out of it, a silver
white, excepting some streaks or speckles of a
deep blue on the back and sides.

Naturalists have observed, that the water
wherein mackerel has been boiled, yields a
light, after stirring it a little.

Some persons skilled in naval architecture,
assert that the figure of the mackerel is the
most commodious of all others for swimmin"*.
and have therefore proposed it as a model
for the buildings of ships.

The mackerel is found in large shoals in
divers parts of the ocean, but especially on
the English and French coasts, during the
months of April, May, and June.

Some

^06 NATURAL HISTORY

Some varieties of this fish are found among
the Carribee islands.

THE GURNET TRIGLA.

THIS also is a salt-water fish, about the
size of a middling whiting; its tail, fins, and
gills, and a great part of its body, are of a red-
dish cast ; the head remarkably large in pro-
portion to the body, which is round and very
taper ; and its lins of an unusual length, pro-
bably to remedy the inconvenience which, on
account of the largeness of its head, it must
otherwise labour under, in making its way
through the water. In the western parts of the
British coast, where it is most frequently
caught, the meaner sort of people parboil,
and afterwards steep it in pickle, calling it
sous'd gurnet ; a term that may serve to ex-
plain an expression somewhat contested in
Shakspeare's Second Part of Henry IV^. where
Falstaff says, — ** If I be not ashamed of my
soldiers, I am a sons' d gurnet.*'

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. £07

THE GREYLING, OR UMBER.

THE technical name of this fish is Thij-
jnaUiis. Its body is long and flat, the back is
somewhat broad, and the belly rigid and thin.
The back has two fms, and the tail is forked ;
the head is small, the eyes large and protube-
rant ; the mouth is moderately large, and the
upper jaw larger than the under ; it has no
teeth, but the whole jaws are rough like a file.

Its back is of a dusky brownish green, with
a somewhat bluish cast intermixed, and its
sides of a more shining gloss, with an admix-
ture of gold colour. The scales are almost of
a rhomboidal figure, and the side lines are
much nearer the back than the belly ; the
sides are variegated with black spots placed
irregularly, but there are none of these near the
tail. The greyling seldom exceeds a pound,
or at the utmost a pound and a half in weight.

This

208 NATURAL HISTORY

This fish is caught in the fresh rivers in the
mountainous counties of England, and in
the like situations in Germany and other king-
doms ; and is one of the finest tasted of all
the fresh-water fish. — It feeds on worms, and
spawns in May.

THE LOACH.

THE CoUtiSy Loach, is a genus of fish of
which there are five species. The eyes are in
the upper part of the head ; the gill-covering
membrane has from four to five rays, and the
body is nearly of an equal thickness through-
out. The loach is found in several of our
small rivers, keeping at the bottom on the
gravel ; and on that account it is in some
places called the groundling. It is frequent in
the stream near Amersbury in Wiltshire,
where the sportsmen, through frolic, swallow
it down alive in a glass of white wine.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 209

THE SMELT ATHEURIA.

THIS is a soft-finned abdominal fish ; the
characters of which have been given : it in-
ckides two s})ecies.

1. The hepsetusy with about twelve rays in
the fin next the anus. It is found in the Me-
diterranean, and is also very plentiful in the
sea near Southampton, as w^ell as on other
coasts of our island. The length is about five
inches, and the tail is much forked. It is a
beautiful little fish, semi-pellucid, covered
with scales; the colour silvery, tinged with
yellow ; beneath the side line is a row of
small black spots. The highest season for this
fish is from March to the latter end of May or
beginning of June, in which month it spawns.
It never deserts its accustomed places, and
may be constantly taken except in hard frost.
9. The inentdea, with twenty- four i-ays in
the fin next the anus. This is a very small
VOL. IV. E e pellucid

210 NATURAL HISTORY

pellucid fish with many black points interspers-
ed; it has many teeth in the lips, but none in
the tongue or jaws. It is found in the fresh
waters of Carolina, and spawns in April.

OF above five hundred species offish which
the spinous class includes, we have attempted
to pourtray the leading features of those which
usually come under observation, and whatever
could be collected of their general history has
been faithfully detailed : — we must dismiss
the subject therefore with a slight mention of
a few wiiich appear not interesting enough to
deserve a particular description.

The Perch is hook-backed, not unlike a
hog, armed with stiff bristles, and his sides
with dry thick scales : he is voracious, and v/ill
venture on his own kind even with greater
courage than the pike. It is distinguished by
several transverse streaks, and by having the
belly-fins red : it is from nine inches to a foot in
length, and considerably thick in proportion.
There are two species found among the Carri-
l^ee islands and on the coasts of North Ame-
rica ;

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. §11

rica; one has the body striped lengthways
with a light purplish red on a yellowish
ground ; the body of the other is striped
transversely with yellow.

The Mullet, characterized among the prickly
fumed thoracii fish. No. 18 ; is common in
the Mediterranean ; and a kind of sausage,
called hotargo is made of its eggs and blood.
The best kind comes from Tunis, in Barbary ;
it must be chosen dry and reddish. The peo-
ple of Provence use a great deal of it, the com-
mon way of eating it being with olive oil and
lemon juice. There is also a great consump-
tion of it throughout the Levant.

The Blenny affords thirteen species, of which
two deserve mention : the viviparous, which
brings forth two or three hundred young ones
at a time. Their season for parturition is a
little after the depth of winter. Before Mid-
summer they quit the bays and shores, and
retire into the deep where they are com-
monly taken. They are a very coarse fish,
and eaten only by the poorest people. They
are common in the mouth of the river Eske, at
Whitby, Yorkshire, where they are frequently
taken from off the bridge, sometimes a foot
in lengili.

E e ^ The

21^ NATURAL HISTORY

The Raninus, with six divisions in the belly-
fins, is found in the lakes of Sweden ; and it
\s ren^iarkable that when this fish a[)pears in
the leike, all the other fish retire ; and what is
worse, this is not lit for eating.

THE CRAB, THE LOBSTER, AND THEIR AFFI-
NITIES.

THE language of philosophy, and that of
mankind in general, is very different respecting
the class of animals now coming under con-
sideration : they are usually denominatedj/?,?/?,
but many naturalists have placed them among
the insect tribe ; while Goldsmith has placed
them along with the turtle, though for what
other reason than their crustaceous covering,
it is not easy to discover.

From the first view of a lobster, it is obvious
that its crustaceous covering bears a strong
analogy to the bones of other animals ; and
that by these sh-^.lls the animal is sustained

and

Crab.\24:.

Turtle XZia.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 213

and defended ; but in this respect they seem to
invert the order of nature ; for as fish have their
bones in the inside, and their muscles hung up-
on them for the purposes of life and motion—
these crustaceous animals, on the contrary,
have their bony parts on the outside, and all
their muscles within; their shell is not quite
of a stony hardness, but rather resembles a
firm crust, and in some measure capable of
yielding. They seem to hold a middle rank
between the former kind of animals we have
been describing, and those snail-like creatures
that properly receive the ivdme oUestaceousJish.
The generic characters of the crab are these ;
t-hey have eight legs (seldom ten or six) be-
sides the two large claws which serve for the
purpose of hands. They have two eyes at a
considerable distance from each other, and for
the most part supported by a kind of pedun-
culi, or footstalks ; the eyes are likewise elon-
gated and moveable ; they have two clawed
palpi, and the tail is jointed. Their genus
includes the lobster, shrimp, &c. There are
no less than eighty-seven species of cancer,
distinguished principally by the length of their
tails and the margins of their breasts. 'Jhe
following are the most remarkable.

The

214 NATURAL HISTORY

The Ganwiarus, or common lobster, with a
smooth thorax, short serrated snout, very long
antennae, and between them two shorter ones,
bifid claws and fangs large, the greater tuber-
culated, the lesser sermted on the inner edge ;
four pair of legs, six joints m the tail, tail-fins
rounded. It inhabits all the rocky shores of
our island, but chiefly where there is a depth
of water. In Llyn, in Caernai-vonshire, a cer-
tain small lobster, nothing different except in
size, burrows in tlie sand. They are brought
in vast quantities from the Orkney isles, and
many parts of the Eastern coast of Scotland,
to the London markets. Sixty or seventy
thousand are annually brought from the neigh-
bourhood of Montrose alone. The lobster
was well known to the ancients, is accurately
described by iVristotle, and is found as far as
the Hellespont.

Lobsters fear thunder, and are apt to cast
their claws on a great clap ; it is said that
they will do the same on the firing of a great
gun, and that when men of war meet a lob-
ster boat, a jocular threat is used, that, if the
master does not sell them good lobsters,
they will salute him. The habitation of this
gpecies is in the clearest water, at the foot of

rocks

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 215

rocks that impend over the sea. This has
given opportunity of examining more closely
into the natural history of this animal, than
of many others who live in an element that
almost prohibits human researches, and limits
the inquiries of the most inquisitive. Some
lobsters are taken by hand ; but the greater
quantity in pots, a sort of trap formed of
twigs, and baited with garbage; they are form-
ed like a wire mouse- trap, so that when the
lobsters get in there is no returning. These
are fastened to a cork sunk in the sea, and. their
place marked by a buo}-. They begin to breed
in the spring, and continue breeding most part
of the summer They propagate 77iore humano^
and are extremely prolific. Dr. Baster says
he counted 12,444 eggs under the tail, besides
those that remained in the body unprotruded.
They deposit their eggs in the sand, where they
are soon hatched. Lobsters change their crust
annually. Previous to their putting off their
old one, they appearsick, languid, and restless.
They totally acquire a new coat in a few days ;
but during the time that they remain defence-
less they seek some lonely place for fear of be-
ing devoured by such of their brethren as are
not in the same situation. It is also remarkable
that lobsters and crabs will renew their claws

if.

216 NATURAL HISTORf

if, by accident, they are torn off; and it is cer-
tain they will grow again in a few weeks,
though they never attain to the size of the first.
They are voracious animals, and feed on sea-
weeds, garbage, and all sorts of dead bodies.
The pincers of one of the lobster's large claws
are furnishod with knobs, and those of the
other are always serrated. With the former
it keeps firm hold of the stalks of submarine
plants, and with the latter it cuts and minces
its food very dexterously. The nobbed, or numb
claw, as the fishermen call it, is sometimes
on the right, and sometimes on the left side
indifferently. It is more dangerous to be seized
by them with the cutting claw than the other;
but, in either case, the quickest way to get
disengaged from the creature is to pull off its
claw. The female, or Aew-lobster does not
cast her shell the same year that she deposits
her ova, or, in the common phrase, is in
herry. When the ova first appear under her
tail, they are small, and extremely black ; but
they come in succession almost as large as
ripe elder-berriers before they are deposited,
and turn of a dark brown tolour, especially
towards the end of the time of her depo-
siting them. They continue full, and depo-
siting the ova in constant succession, as long

as

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 217

as any of that black substance can be found
in their body, which, when boiled, turns of a
beautiful red colour, and is called their coral.
Hen-lobbters are found in berry at all times of
the year, but chiefly in winter. It is a com-
mon mistake, that a berried hen is always in
perfection for the table. When her berries
appear large and brownish, she will always be
found exhausted, watery, and poor. Though
the ova be cast at all times of the year, they
seem only to come to life during tlie warm
summer months of July and August. Great
numbers of them may then be Ibund, similar
in appearance to tad- poles, swimming about
the little pools, left by the tides among the
rocks, and many also under their proper form
from half an inch to four inches in length. In
casting their shells, it is hard to conceive how
the lobster is able to draw the fish of their
large claws out, leaving the sliells entire,
and attached to the shell of their hoi\y, m
which state they are constantly found. The
fishermen say that the lobster pines before
casting, till the fish of its large claw is no
thicker than the quill of a goose, which ena-
bles it to draw its parts through the joints
and narrow passage near the trunk. The
nevv' shell is quite membraneous at first, but
VOL. IV. I' f hardens

218 NATURAL HISTORY

hardens by degrees. Lobsters only grow in
size while their shells are in iheir soft state.
They are chosen for the table, by their being
heavy in proportion to their size ; and by the
hardness of their shells on their sides, which,
when in perfection, will not yield to moderate
pressure. Barnacles and other small fish ad-
hering to them, are reckoned certain signs of
superior goodness. Cock-lobsters are in ge-
neral better than the hens in winter ; they are
distinguished by the narrowness of their nails,
and by their having a strong spine upon the
centre of each of the tmnsverse processes be-
neath the tail, which support the four middle
plates of their tails. The fish of a lobster's
claVv- is more tender, delicate, and easy of di-
gestion, than that of the tail. In summer,
the lobsters are found near the shore, and
thence to about six fathom water; in winter
they are seldom taken in less than 12 or 15
fathoms. Like most insects, they are mucli
more active and alert in warm weather than in
cold. In the water they can rush ninthly upon
their legs or small claws ; and, if alarmed, can
spring, tail foremost, to a surprising distance,
as sw.ft as a b rd can fly. The fishermen can
see them pass about 30 feet; and, by the swift-
ness of tiicir motion, suppose they may go

much

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 219

much further. Atheneeus remarks this cir-
cumstance; and says, that ** the incurvated
lobsters will spring with the activity of dol-
phins.'* Their eyes are raised upon moveable
bases, which enable them to see readily every
way. When frightened, they will spring
from a considerable distance to their hole in
the rock; and, what is not less surprising
than true, will throw themselves into their
hole ill that manner through an entrance
barely sufficient for their bodies to pass.

2. The strigosus, or plated lobster, with a
pyramidal spiny snout ; thorax elegantly
plated, each plate marked near its junction
with short stri« ; claws much longer than
the body, thick, echinated, and tuberculated ;
the upper tang trifled; only three legs spiny
on their sides; tail broad. The largest of
this species is about six inches long. It in-
habits the coasts of Anglesea, under stones
and fuci. It is very active : and, if taken,
flaps its tail against the body with much
violence and noise.

3. The astacus, or craw-fish, with a pro-
jecting snout, slightly serrated on the sides ; a
smooth thorax ; back smooth, with two small
spines on each side ; claws large, beset w ith
small tubercles ; two first pair of legs dawned ;

F f 2 the

220 NATURAL HISTORY

the two next subulated ; tail consisting of five
joints; the caudal fins rounded. It inhabits
many of the rivers in England, lodges in holes
which they form in the clay banks. Cardian
says, that this species indicates the goodness
of water : for in the best water they are boiled
into the reddest colour.

The flesh of the cray-fish is cooling, moist-?
ening, and adapted to nourish such as labour
under consumptions. Though they are va-
riously dressed, yet no parts of them are eat-
able except their claws and tails. Soups are
frequently made of them, which are rendered
still more medicinal by the addition of herbs,
snails, or other substances, according as cir-
cumstances may require. The flesh is ac-
counted best in the summer months.

The delicate flavour of these fish depends
in a great measure on their food. When they
have well-tasted food, their flesh preserves
the relish of it ; but when tliey feed on other
things, they are often rendered of no value
by the flavour which is thus communicated to
their flesh.

There are great quantities of these fish in
the river Obra, on the borders of Silesia ;
but the people find them scarcely eatable,
because of a bitter aromatic flavour, which is

very

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 221

very disagreeable in food. It has lately been
observed, that the calamus aromaticus grows
in vast abundance on the banks of that river,
and that these creatures feed very greedily
upon its roots. These have a very remarkable
bitterness mixed with their aromatic flavour,
while fresh, which goes off very much in the
drying ; and on comparing the taste of these
roots with that of the cray-fish, there remains
no doubt of the one being owing to the other.

They abound in the river Don, in Mus-
covy, where they are laid in heaps to putrify ;
after which the stones called crabs-eyes are
picked out. These animals are very greedy
of flesh, and flock in great numbers about
carcases thrown into the water where they
are, and never leave them while any remains.
They also feed on dead frogs when they come
in their way. In Switzerland there are some
cray-fish which are red when they are alive,
and others bluish. Some kinds of them also
will never become red even by boiling, but
continue blackish.

The cray-fish discharges itself of its sto-
mach ; and, as Geoffrey thinks, of its intestines
too. These, as they putrify and dissolve,
serve for food to the animai ; during the time
of the re-formation, the old stomach seems to

be

229 NATURAL HISTORY

be the first food that the new one digests.
It is only at this time that the stones are
found called crabs-eyes ; they begin to be
formed when the old stomach is destroyed,
and are afterwards wrapped up in the new
one, where they decrease by degrees till they
entirely disappear.

4. The serratus, a prawn, with a long ser-
rated snout, bending upwards ; three pair of
very long filiform feelers ; claws small, fur-
nished with two fangs ; smooth thorax ; five
joints to the tail, middle caudal fin subulated,
two outmost flat and rounded. It is frequent
in several shores among loose stones ; some-
times found at sea, and taken on the surface
over thirty fathoms depth of water ; cinereous
when fresh, of a fine red when boiled.

5. The crangon, or shrimp, with long slen-
der feelers, and between them two projective
laminae ; claws with a single hooked moveable
fang ; three pair of legs ; seven joints in the
tail ; the middle caudal fin subulated, the four
others round and fringed, a spine on the exte-
rior side of each of the outmost. It inhabits
the shores of Britain in vast quantities, and is
the most delicious of the genus,

6. The squilla, with a snout like a prawn,
but deeper and thinner ; the feelers longer in

proportion

O^ BIRDS, fiSH, &c. 223

proportion to the bulk ; the sub-caudal fmg
rather larger ; is, at full growth, not above
half the bulk of the former. It inhabits the
coast of Kent ; and is sold in London under
the name of the white shrimps as it assumes
that colour when boiled.

7. The atamos, or atam-lobster, with a
slender body ; filiform antennae ; three pair
of legs near the head ; behind which are two
pair of oval vesiculse ; beyond are three pair
of legs, and a slender tail between the last
pair. It is very minute, and the help of
the microscope is often necessary for its in-
spection.

8. The puler, or flea-lobster, with five pair
of legs, and two claws imperfect, with twelve
joints of the body. It is very common in
fountains and rivulets ; swims very swiftly in
an incurvated posture on its back ; embraces
and protects its young between the legs ; does
not leap.

9 The locust, or locust-lobster, with four
antennvs; two pair of imperfect claws; the
first jonit ovated ; body consists of fourteen
joints, in which it differs from the former.
It abounds, in summer, on the shores be-
neath stones and algte ; leaps about with va:-^t
agility.

10. The

224 NATURAL HISTORY

10. The (Itogenes^ soMler-crah ^ or hermit-'
crahf witli rough claws ; the left claw is the
longest, (this being the only difference be-
tween the diogenes and hernpadus) the legs are
subulcited, and serrated along the upper ridge ;
the tail naked and slender, and furnished
with a hook, by which it secures itself in its
lodging. This species is parasitic, and inha-
bits the empty cavities of turbunated shells,
changing its habitation according to its in-
crease of growth, from the small nerite to the
large whelk. Nature denies it the strong co-
vering behind, which it has given to others of
this class ; and therefore directs it to take re-
fuge in the deserted cases of other animals.
They crawl very fast with the shell on their
back ; and at the approach of danger draw
themselves within the shell, and, thrusting out
the larger claw, will pinch very hard whatever
molests them. By the moderns it is called the
soldier, from the idea of its dwelling in a tent ;
or the hermit, from retiring into a cell.

It is very diverting to observe this ani-
mal when wanting to change its shell.
The little soldier is seen busily parading
the shore along that line of pebbles and
shells which is formed by the extre-
mest wave, still, however, dragging its

old

bF BIRDS, Fisii, &c. 225

bid incommodious habitation at its tail, unwil-
ling to part with one shell, even though a trou-
blesome a ppendage, till it can find another more
convenient. It is seen stopping at one shell,
turning it, and passing it by ; going on to ano-
ther, contemplating that for a while, and then
shpping its tail from its old habitation to try-
on the new; this also is found to be inconveni-
ent, 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 betw^een two of them for some fa-
vourite shell for which they are rivals. They
both endeavour to take possession, they strike
with their claws, they bite each other, till the
weakest is obliged to yield by giving up the
object of dispute. It is then that the victor
immediately takes possession, and parades in
his new conquest three or four times back-
wards and forwards upon the strand before
his envious antagonist. When this aninial is
taken it sends forth a feeble cry, endeavour-
ing to seize the enemy with its nippers ; which,
-VOL. IV. C g if

22G KATURAL HISTORY

if it fastens upon, it will sooner die than quit
the grasp.

The hermit crabs frequent mostly those parts
of the sea-shore which are covered with shrubs
and trees, producing various wild fruits on
which they subsist ; though they will also feed
on the fragments offish and other animal sub-
stances cast on shore. When roasted in the
shell, they are esteemed delicate. The her-
mit crab, hung in the air, dissolves into a
kind of oil, which gives speedy relief to rheu-
matic pains, if rubbed upon the part.

11. The vocanSf or sand-crab, is but of a
small size ; its colour light brown, or dusky
white. It has eight legs, and two claws, one
of which is double the size of the other : these
claws serve both to defend and feed themselves
with. The head has two square holes, which
are receptacles for its eyes, out of which it
thrusts them and draws them in again at plea-
sure. Their only abode is on the sandy
shores of Flathera, and many other of the Ba-
hama islands. They run very fast, and retreat
from danger into little holes v^^hich they make
in the sand.

12. The grapsus, or red-mottled crab, has
a round body, the legs longer and larger than
jn other kinds ; the claws red, except which,

the

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C: £27

the whole is mottled in a beautiful manner
with red and white. These crabs inhabit
the rocks hanging over the sea ; they are the
nimblest of all others, and run with surprising
agility along the upright side of a rock and
even under the rocks that hang horizontally
below the water. This they are often neces-
sitated to do to escape the assaults of rapaci-
ous birds that pursue them. These crabs
never go to land ; but frequent mostly those
parts of the promontories and islands of rocks
in and near the sea, where by the continual
and violent agitation of the waves against the
rocks, they are always wet, continually receiv^-
ing the spray of the sea, which often washes
them into it; but they instantly return to the
rock again, not being able to live under water,
and yet requiring more of that element
than any of the crustaceous kinds that are
not fish.

] 3. The granidatus^ or rough-shelled crab ;
these crabs are pretty large, and are commonly
taken from the bottom of the sea in shallow
water ; the legs are small in proportion to the
body ; the two claws are remarkably large and
flat. The whole shell is covered over with in-
numerable little tubercles like shagreen : the
colour is brown, variously stained with purple.
G^ '^ 14. The

298 NATURAL HISTORY

14. The cancer erythropns, or refl-claw
crab, is of a small size, and brown colour ;
it has two claws of unequal bigness, red at
the ends, and eight legs, which seem of less
use to them than in other crabs ; for when
on the ground, they crawl with a slow pace,
dragging their bodies along ; but they are
jnostly seen grasping with their claws, and
liaagiiig to some sea-plant, or other marine
substance..

15. The pisuTriy or pea-crab, vvitli rounded
and smooth thorax, entire and blunt; with a
tail of the size of the body, which commonly
is the bulk of a pea. It inhabits the muscle,
and has unjustly acquired the repute of beuig
poisonous. The swelling after eating of mus-
cles is wiioUy constitutional ; for one that is
affected by it, hundreds remain uninjured.
Crabs either of this kind, or allied to them,
the ancients believed to have been the consen-
taneous inmates of the Pinna, and other bi-
vales ; which, being too stupid to perceive the
approach of their prey, were warned of it by
their vigilant friend.

16. The manus, or common crab, with
three notches on the front ; five serrated teetlx
pn each side ; claws elevated ; next joint
toothed ; hind feet subulated ; dirty green co-

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 299

lour; red when boiled. It inhabits all our
shores ; and lurks under the algae, or burrows
under the sand. It is sold, and eaten by the
poor of our capitals.

17. The pagurus, or black-clawed crab,
with a crenated thorax ; smooth body ; hind
feet subulated. It inhabits the rocky coasts ;
it is the most delicious meat of any ; casts
its shell between Christmas and Easter. The
tips of the claws of this species are used in
medicine for absorbing acidities in the stomach
3nd bowels.

18. The velutinuSf or velvet crab, with the
thomx quinquedentated ; body covered with
sliort, brown, velvet-like pile ; claws covered
with minute tubercles; small spines round
the top of the second joint ; hind legs broadly
ovated. This is among the species taken
notice of by Aristotle on account of the
broad feet, which, he says, assist them in
swimming, as web-feet do the water-fowl.
It inhabits the western coast of Anglesea.

19. The homdus, or horrid crab, with a
projecting bifurcated snout, the end diverging ;
body heart-shaped, with the claws and legs co-
vered with long and very sharp spines. It is a

large

230 NATURAL HISTORY'

large species, and inhabits the rocks on the
eastern coasts of Scotland.

20. The rinicola, land-crab, or violet-crab,
with smooth entire thorax, and the two last
join s of the feet armed with spines. It inha-
bits the Bahama islands, as well as most
lands between ihe tropics ; and feeds upon
vegetables.

These animals live not only in a kind of or-
derly society in rheir retreats in the mountains,
but regularly once a year march down to the
sea-side in a b. dy of some millions at a time.
As they multiply in great numbers, they choose
the month of April or May to begin their ex-
pedition ; and then sally out by thousands from
the stumps of hollow trees, the clefts of rocks,
and 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 ; there is no setting down one*s
foot without treading on them. The sea is
their place of destination, and to that they di-
rect their march with right-lined precision. No
geometrician could send them to their destined
station by a shorter course ; they neither turn
to the right nor left, w^hatever obstacles inter-*
Vene ; and even if they meet with a house, they
will attempt to scale the walls to keep the un-
broken

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. §31

bi'oken tenor of their way. But though this be
the general order of their route, they, upon
other occasions, are obliged to conform to the
face of the country ; and, if it is intersected
with rivers, they are then seen to wind along
the course of the stream. The procession sets
forward from the mountains with the regularity
of an army under the guidance of an experienc-
ed commander. 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
obliged to halt for want of rain, and go into
the most convenient encampment till the wea-
ther changes. The main body of the army is
composed of females, which never leave the
mountains till the rain is set in for some time,
and then descend in regular battalia,being form-
ed into columns of 50 paces broad, and three
miles deep, and so close that they almost cover
the ground. Three or four days alter this the
rear-guard follows, a straggling undisciplined
tribe, consisting of males and females ; but nei-
ther so robust nor so vigorous as the former.
The night is their chief time of proceeding ;
but if it rain by day, they do not fail to profit

by

23^ NATURAL HISTORV

by the occasion ; and they continue to move
forward in their slow uniform manner. When
the sun shines and it is hot upon the surface of
the ground, they then make a universal halt,and
wait till the cool of the evening. When they
are terrified, they march back in a strange dis-
orderly manner, holding up their nippers, with
■which they sometimes tear otf a piece of the
skin, and then leave the weapon where they in-
jRicted the wound. They even try to intimi-
date their enemies ; for they often clutter their
nippers together, as 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 they are pos-
sessed of one most unsocial property, which is,
that if any of them by accident is maimed in
such a manner as to be incapable of proceed-
ing, the rest fall upon and devour it on the spot,
and then pursue their journey.

When, after a fatiguing march, and escap-
inga thousand dangers, (for they are sometimes
three months m getting to the shore), they
have arrived at their destined port, they prepare
to cast their spawn. The peas are as yet within
their bodies, and not excluded, as is usual in
animals of this kind, under the tail ; for the

creature

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 253

creature waits for the benefit of sea-water, to
help the delivery. For this purpose the crab
has no sooner reached the shore, than it eager-
ly goes to the edge of the water, and lets the
waves wash over its body two or three times*
This seems only a preparation for bringing
their spawn to maturity ; for, without further
delay, they withdraw to seek a lodging on
land ; in the mean time, the spawn grows
large, is excluded out of the body, and sticks
to the barbs under the flap, or more properly
the tail. This bunch is seen as big as an hen's
egg, and exactly resembling the roes of her-
rings. In this state of pregnancy, they once
more seek the shore for the last time ; and
shakmg off their spawn into the water, leave
accident to bring it to maturity. At this timt:
whole shoals of hungry fish are near the shore
in expectation of their annual supply ; the
sea to a great distance seems black with
them; and about two thirds of the crabs'
eggs are immediately devoured by these ra-
pacious invaders. 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 in returning ;. they have become
VOL. IV. H h so

234 NATURAL HISTORY

SO feeble and lean, that they can hardly creep
along, and the flesh at that time changes its
colour. The most of them, therefore, are
obliged to continue in the flat parts of the
country, till thev recover, makinej holes in the
earth, which they cover at the mouth with
leaves and dirt, so that no air may enter.
There they throw off their old shells, which
they leave, as it were, quite whole ; the place
where they opened on the belly being unseen.
At this time they are quite naked, and almost
without motion for six days together, when
they become so fat as to be delicious food.
They have then under their stomachs four
large white stones which gradually decrease
in proportion as the shell hardens; and, when
they come to perfection, are not to be found.
It is at that time that the animal is seen slow-
ly making its way back ; and all this is most
commonly performed in the space of six
weeks.

This animal, when possessed of its retreats
in the mountains, is impregnable: for, sub-
sisting solely upon vegetables, it seldom ven-
tures out ; and its habitation being in the most
inaccessible places, it remains for a great part
of the season in perfect security. It is only
when impelled by the desire of bringing forth

its

OF BIRDS, tlSU, &C. 335

its young, and when compelled to descend
into the flat country, that it is taken. At
that time the natives wait for its descent in
eager expectation, and destroy thousands,
but, disregardiiig their bodies, they seek on 1}^
for that small spawn that lies on each side of
the stomach within the shell, of about the
thickness of a man's thumb. They are much
more valuable upon their return after they
have cast their shell, for, being covered with
a skin resembling soft parchment, almost
eveiy part except the stomach may be eaten.
They are taken in the holes by feeling for
them with an instrument; they are sought
after by night, when on their journey, with
flambeaux. Ihe instant the animal perceives
itself attacked, it throws itself on its back,
and with its claw-s pinches most terribly what-
ever it happens to fasten on. But tlie dex-
trous crab-catcher takes them by the hindei*
legs in such a manner that the nippers cannot
touch him, and tlius he throws them into
his bag. Sometimes also they are caught
when they take refuge in the bottoms of holes
in rocks by the sea-side, by clapping a stick
at the mouth of the hole, which prevents
their getting out ; and then, soon after, the
time coming, enters tlie hole, and the animal
H h 2 is

236 NATURAL HISTORY

is found upon its retiring, drowned in its
reti'eat.

These crabs are of various sizes, the largest
about six inches wide ; they walk side-ways
like the sea-crab, and are shaped like them ;
some are black, some yellow, some red, and
others variegated with red, white, and yellow
mixed. Some of them are poisonous; and
several people have died of eating them, par-
ticularly the black kind. The light coloured
are reckoned best ; and when full in flesh, are
very well tasted. In some of the sugar islands
they are eaten without danger ; and no small
help to the negroe slaves, who, on many of
these islands, would fare very bad without
them.

From the foregoing description of many of
the various species of crustaceous fish, it ap-
pears, that however different in figure the
lobster and the crab may seem, their manners
and conformation are nearly the same.
Though without any red blood circulating
through their veins, or any warmth in their
bodies, they possess all the voracity of the
finny tribe ; yet they are condemned to lead
an insect life at the bottom of the water ; and
though pressed by continual hunger, they are
often obliged to wait till accident brings them

their

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 237

their prey. But whatever they seize upon,
that has lite, is sure to perish, though never
so well defended : they even devour each
other, and in some measure may be said to
feed upon -themselves, as the old stomach
which they cast upon changing their shell is
generally the first morsel that serves to glut
the new.

Wiien the offspring of these creatures first
leave their parents they immediately seek for
refuge in the smallest clefts of rocks, and
crevices, &c. at the bottom of the sea, where
the entrance is but small, and the opening
can be easily defended. There, without
seeming to take any food, they grow larger in
a few weeks time, from the mere 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 begin to issue from their fortresses, and
boldly creep along the bottom in hopes of
meeting with more diminutive plunder. The
spawni of fish, the smaller animals of their
own species, but chiefly the worms that keep
at the bottom of the sea, supply them with
plenty. They keep in this manner close
among the rocks, busily employed in scratch-
ing

238 NATURAL HISTORY

ing up the sand for worms, or surprising such
heedless animals as fall within their reach, and
leading a life of security, except from each
other ; for like other fish, the largest are the
most formidable of all enemies to the small.

The operation of changing the shell is not
only very painful, but also very dangerous, for
many of them die under it. For some days
previously to the change the animal becomes
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 in violent motion ; it then swells to
a great degree ; the shell opens, first at the junc-
tures of the belly ; and by a similar operation
it is discharged of its claws, and in a short time
the creature is at liberty, but so weak that it
continues for some time motionless, possessing
the softness and timidity of a worm, and hun-
dreds of them fall a prey to the dog-fish, the
cod, and the ray.

This state of imbecility remains for a
short time, and when the lobster is com-
pletely equipped in its new shell, it will
appear to have increased above a third in
its size; and we are astonished how the
deserted shell could have contained so large

an

OF BIRDS, nsH, &c. 23&

an animal as that uhlch entirely fills up the
new.

To account for the speedy growth of the
shell, it is supposed that the lobster possesses
in itself a fluid of a petrifying quahty ; — but
this is, in fact, only explaining one mystery
by another.

After what has been described, let us, in

the words of Goldsmith, " pause a little to re-

*' fleet on the wonders this extraordinary crea-

** ture offers to our imagination! an animal

" without bones on the inside, yet furnished

" with a stomach capable of digesting the

" hardest substances, the shells of muscles, of

" oysters, and even its own ; an animal gaining

*' a new stomach and a new shell at stated in-

" tervals; furnished with the instruments of

** generation double in both sexes, and yet with

** an apparent incapacity of uniting! Without

*' red blood circulating through the body, and

" yet apparently vigorous and active ! But

" most strange of all, an animal endowed with

** a vital principle that furnishes such limbs as

'* have been cut away, and keeps continually

*' combating, though in constant repair, to

** renew its engagements ! Yet these are but a

'* small part of the wonders of the deep, where

" Nature sports without a spectator.'*

240 NATURAL HISTORY

AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS.

LINN^US has given the name of Am-
phibia to his third class of animals, including
ail those which partly live on land and partly
in water.

It has been a question whether the animals
commonly called amphibious live most in the
water or on the land: the literal meaning
of the word would imply, that animals
having this title should be capable of living
as well by land, or in the air, as by water ;
or of dwelling in either constantly at will;
but it will be difficult to find any animal
that can fulfil this definition as being equally
qualified for either. Dr. Parsons, in a paper
read before the Royal Society, divides them
into two orders, viz. 1. Such as enjoy
their chief functions by land, but occasion-
ally go into the water. 2. Such as chiefly
inhabit the water, but occasionally go ashore.

Of

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 241

Of the first order, he particularly considers
the phocos : — but respecting this we have aU
ready treated at large in a preceding vohime.

Otters, beavers, and some kind of rats, go
occasional!}^ into the water for their prey, but
cannot remain very long under water.

Frogs, however capable of remaining in the
water, yet cannot avoid living on land, foi*
they respire ; and if a frog be thrown into a
river, he makes to the shore as fast as he can.

The lizard-kind, such as may be called the
water-lizard, are all obliged to come to landj
in order to lay their eggs, to rest, aitd to sleep.
Even the crocodiles, who dwell much in ri-*
vers, sleep and lay their eggs on shore ; and,
while in the water, are compelled to rise to
the surface to breathe ; yet, from the texture
of their scaly covering, they are capable of re*
maining in the water longer by far than any
species of the phocae, whose skin is analogous
to that of a horse or cow.

The testudo, or sea-tortoise, though he goes
out to sea, and is often found far from land, yet
being a respiring animal, cannot remain long
under water. He has indeed a power of ren-
dering himself specifically heavier or lighter
than the water, and therefore caii let himself
VOL. iv-. I i down

249 NATURAL HISTORY

down to avoid an enemy, or a storm ; yet he
is under the necessity of rising frequently to
breathe; and his most usual situation while
at sea, is upon the surface of the water, feed-
ing upon the various substances that float in
great abundance every where about him ; he
can remain longer at sea than any other of
this class, the crocodile excepted, because
hke the latter, his covering is not in danger of
being too much macerated ; yet they must
go on shore to copulate and lay their eggs.

The animals of which we are now speak-
ing, have also been divided into such as
have lungs, and such as want them. The
first species differ so considerably from an
ox, or any other quadruped, that a few ob-
servations may be sufficient to give an idea
t)f their internal structure ; for this purpose,
we shall first examine that species of them
which most resembles man in the internal
structure.

The tortoise. — The covering of this animal
is composed of a shell so remarkably hard
and firm in its texture, that a loaded waggon
may go over it without hurting the shell, or
the animal within it. In the young animal
this shell grows harder in proportion as its

contents

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. - 243

contents expand ; and it never changes its
shell as some others do ; hence it was ne-
cessary for it to be made up of different pieces
and these are m<.)re or less distinct in several
animals. Their feet are small and weak;
and they are exceedingly slow in motion.

It has neither tongue nor teeth ; but in
lieu of them, their lips are so hard as to be
able to break ahnost the hardest bodies.
. The alimentary canal very much resembles
that of the former class.

The principal difference is in the circu-
lation of the blood. The heart has two dis-
tinct auricles, without any communication ;
and under these, there is the appearance
of two ventricles, similar in shape to those
of the former class ; but they may be con-
sidered as one cavity ; for the ventricle sends
out not only the pulmonary artery, but
likewise the aorta ; there is a passage in
the septum, by which the ventricles com-
municate freely, and the blood passes from
the left into the right one. From the aorta
the blood returns into the right auricle, while
that, from the pulmonary artery returns to the
left auricle, from which it is sent to the left
ventricle, &c. so that only a part of the blood

I i 2 is

244 NAfURAL HISTORY

is sent to the lungs, the rest going imme-
diately into the aorta ; hence the animal id
not under the necessity of breathing so often
as otherwise it would be. .

From the base of the right ventricle goes
out the pulmonary artery and aorta. The pul-
monary artery is spent upon the lungs. The
aorta may be said to be three in number ; for
the aorta sinistra ascends through the pericar-
dium in company with the pulmonary artery ;
and afterwards turns down, and sends off a
considerable branch, which splits into two ;
one of which joins the right aorta, while the
other is distributed upon the liver, stomach,
intestines, &c. What remains of this aorta,
runs to the kidneys, or posterior extremities of
that side. An aorta descendens, &c. after pier-
cing the pericardiums, runs down and com-
municates with the branch already mentioned,
is distributed upon the right kidney, and infe-
rior extremity, and also upon the bladder, or ■
parts of generation. An aorta ascendens, after
getting out of the pericardium, supplies the
Ibre-Jegs, neck, and head. The blood in the
superior part of the body returns to the right
auricle by twojugular veins, which unite after
perforating the pericardium. From the infe-
rior

OF BIRDS, riSH, &;c. 245

rior part it returns to the same auricle by
two large veins ; one on the right side receives
the blood in the right lobe of the liver; the
other on the left side, receives tlie blood in the
left lobe, and also a trunk which corresponds
with the inferior vena cava in other animals.
The pulmonary vessels run in the left auricle
in the common way.

The absorbent system in the turtle, Hke that
in the former class, consists of lacteais and
lymphatics, with then* common trunks the
thoracic ducts ; but differs from it in having
no obvious lymphatic glands on any part of
its body, nor plumes formed at the termina-
tion in the red vein.

The lacteais accompany the blood-vessels
upon the mesentery, and form frequent net-
works across their vessels ; near the root of
the mesenteiy, a place is formed which com-
municates with the lymphatics coming from
the kidneys and parts near the anus. At the
root of the mesentery on the left side of the
ipine, the lymphatics of the spleen join the
lacteais \ and immediately above this a plexus
is formed, which lies upon the right aorta.
From this plexus a large branch arises, which
passes behind the right aorta to the left side,
and gets before the left aorta, w^here it assist

in.

2A6 NATURAL HIETORt'

in forming a very large receptaculum, which
lies upon that artery.

From this receptaculum arise the thoracic
ducts. From its right side goes one trunk,
which is joined by that large branch that came
from the plexus to the left side of the right
aorta, and then passes over the spine. This
trunk is the thoracic duct of the right side;
for having got to the right side of the spine,
it runs upwardson the inside of theright aorta,
towards the right subclavian vein ; and when
it has advanced a little above the lungs, it di-
vides into branches, which near the same place
are joined by a large branch, that comes up
on the right side of the aorta. From this part
upwards, those vessels divide and subdivide,
and are afterwards joined by the lymphatics of
the neck, which likewise form branches before
they join them from below. So tliat between
the thoracic duct and the lymphatics of the
same side of the neck, a very intricate net- work
is formed ; from which a branch goes into the
angle between the jugular vein, and the lowe|
part or trunk of the subclavian. This branch
lies therefore on the inside of the jugular vein,
whilst another gets to the outside of it, and
seems to terminate in it, a little above the an-
gle, between that vein and the subclavian^

Into

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 247

Into the above-mentioned receptaciilum the
lymphatics of the stomach and duodenum
likewise enter. Those of the duodenum run
by the side of the panecneas, and probably re-
ceive its lymphatics and a part of those of the
liver. The lymphatics of the stomach and
duodenum have very numerous anastomeses,
and form a beautiful net-vi'ork on the artery
which they accompany. From this recepta-
culum likewise, (besides the trunk already
mentioned, which goes to the right side) arise
two other trunks pretty equal in size ; one of
which runs upon the left side, and the other
upon the right side of the left aorta, till they
come within two or three inches of the left
subclavian vein ; where they join behind the
aorta, and form a number of branches which
are afterwards joined by the lymphatics of the
left side of the neck ; so that here a plexus is
formed as upon the right side. From this
plexus a branch issues, which opens in the
angle between the jugular and subclavian vein.

Serpent and Crocodile.^Tcit circulation in
these is similar to that of the turtle; but we
fmd only one ventricle. The blood goes
from the right auricle to the ventricle which
sends out the pulmonaiy arterj^and aorta ; the
blood from the pulmonary artery returns to the

. left

S48 NATURAL HlgTORY

left auricle, that from the aorta going to the
right auricle, and both the auricles opening
into the ventricle.

Frog and Lizard. — These differ from the
former animals, in having only one auricle
and a ventricle ; and besides, the ventricle
sends out a single artery, which afterwards
splits into two parts ; one to supply the lungs,
the other runs to all the rest of the body ;
from the lungs, and from the other parts, the
blood returns into the auricle.

The above observations are suftlcient to in-
foim us of the nature of the first order of the
class of amphibious animals ; let us now see
what is to be said of the second in our division
of them, which are such as chiefly inhabit
the waters, but occasionally go on shore.

These are but of two kinds ; the eels,
and water-serpents, or snakes of every kind.
It is their form that qualifies them for loco-
motion on land, and they know their way
back to the water at will ; for by their
structure they have a strong peristaltic mo-
tion, by which they can go forward at a
pretty good rate ; whereas all other kinds
of fish, whether vertical or horizontal, are
incapable of a voluntary loco-motion on
shore; and therefore, as soon as such

fish

OF BIRDS, FISH, Sec, g49

fish are brought out of the water, after having
flounced a while, they lie motionless, and soon
die.

Let us now examine into the reason why
these vermicular fioh, the eel and serpent kinds,
can hve a considerabie time on land, and the
vertical and horizontal kinds die ahnost imme-
diately when taken outof the water. All land-
animals have lungs, and can live no longer
than while these are inflated by the ambient
air, and alternately compressed for its expul-
sion ; that is, while respiration is duly car; led
on, by a regular inspiration and expiration ofair.

In like manner, the fish in general have, in-
stead of lungs, gills orbranchiie: and as in
land animals the lungs have a large portion of
the mass of blood circulated through them,
which must be stopped if the air has not a fii,e
ingress and egress into and from th^m ; so, in
fish, there is a great number of blood-vessels
that pass through the branchiae, and a great
portion of their blood circulates through them,
which must in like manner be totally stopped,
if the branchiae are not perpetually wet with
^vater. So that, as the air is to the lungs in
land-animals aconstant assistant to the circula-
tion, so is the water to the branchiee of those
VOL. IV. K k of

250 NATURAL HISTORY

of the rivers and seas ; for when these are out
of the water, the branchiaE very soon grow crisp
and dry, the blood-vessels are shrunk, and the
blood is obstructed in its passage ; so, when
the former are immersed in water, or otherwise
prevented from having respiration, the circula-
tion ceases, and the animal dies.

x^gain, as land-animals would be destroyed
by too much maceration in water ; so fishes
would, on the other hand, be ruined by too
much exsication ; the latter being, from their
general structure and constitution, made fit to
bear, and live in the water; the former, by their
constitution and form, to breathe and dwell
in the air.

But it may be asked, why eels and w^ater-
snakes are capable of living longer in the air
than the other kinds of fish ? This is answ^ered
by consideiing the providential care of the
great Creator for these and every one of his
creatures : for since they w^ere capable of lo-
co-motion by their form, w^hich they need not
be if they were never to go on shore, it seemed
necessary that they should be rendered capable
of living a considerable time on shore, other-
wise their loco-motion would be in vain. —
How is this provided for ? Why, in a most

convenient

OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. §51

convenient manner ; for this order of fish
have their branchiue covered, while those of
other kinds are much exposed to the air, and
v;ant the slimy water to keep them moist.
Now, if any of these, when brought out of
the water, were laid in a vessel without water,
they might be preserved alive a considerable
time, by only keeping- the gills and surface of
the skin constantly w^et, even without any
water to swim in.

It has been advanced, that man may, by art,
be rendered amphibious, and able to live un-
der water as well as frogs. As the fcetus lives
in utero without air, and the circulation is there
continued by means of the foramen ovale ; by
preserving the passage open, and the other
parts in statu quo, after the birth, the same
faculty would still continue. Now, the/oro-
man, it is alleged, would be preserved in its
open state, were people accustomed, from
their infancy, to hold their breath a consider-
able time once a day, that the blood might be
forced to resume its pristine passage, and pre-
vent it drying up as it usually does.

This conjecture seems, in some measure, sup-
ported by the practice of divers, who are taught
K k 2 from

259 NATURAL HISTORY

from their childhood to hold their breath, and
keep long under water, by which means the
ancient channel is kept open. A Calabriaii
monk at Madrid laid claim to this amphibious
capacity, making an offer to the king of Spain
to continue twice twenty-four minutes under
water, without ever coming up to take breath.
Kircher gives an account of a Sicilian, named
the Fish-CoIaSy who, by a long habitude from
liis youth, had so accustomed himself to hve
in water, that his nature seemed to be quite
altered ; so that he lived rather after the man-
ner of a fish than that of a man.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 553

THE TURTLE AND TORTOISE.

TESTUDO is the general name which
comprehends all those animals known in
English hy the names of turtles and tortoises ;
and of which there are a great many species ;
some with four toes on each foot ; others with
five toes on the fore-feet, and four on the hin-
der ones; and others distinguished by other
peculiarities, particularly the compartments
of their shells, some being divided into irregu-
lar spaces, and others beautifully tessellated.
The shells are much used in ornamental work.

The degree of strength and docility possessed
by the tortoise, and the warm red blood circu-
lating in its veins, certainly give it an apparent
claim to a rank above fish ; — on the other hand,
it is of an amphibious nature ; it is covered
with a shell like a lobster, and it brings forth
its young from the egg without hatching; these

considerations

254 NATURAL HISTORY

considerations tend to lessen its superiority,
and degrade it among animals which in many
respects it considerably surpasses.

A distinction has usually been made between
the species that hve upon land and those which
subsist in the water ; the former being called
tortoiseSy the latter turtles. Seba, however,
asserts that all tortoises are amphibious ; that
the land-tortoise will live in the water, and
that the sea-turtle can be fed upon land. A
land-tortoise was taken to him that had been
caught in one of the canals of Amsterdam,
which he kept for half a year in his house,
where it lived very well contented in both ele-
ments. When in the water, he observed that
it remained with its head above the surface ;
and when placed in the sun-beams, seemed
delighted with the warmth, and remained im-
moveable during its continuance. Habit, there-
fore, rather than conformation, constitutes the
difference between these animals, and they
perhaps differ less than birds that live on the
land and those that swim in the water.

The most remarkable distinctions between
these animals shall now be pointed out : The
first is in the size : the land-tortoise usually not
exceeding three feet long by two feet broad ;

but

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 255

but the turtle is sometimes fiom five to seven
feet long. Not that the size can be rehed upon
as an unerring distinction ; for in many parts of
India the land- tortoises grow to a very great
magnitude, though not big enough for a single
shell to cover a house, as some of the ancients
have gravely asserted.

The methods of living are certainly a more
obvious distinction than the size of turtles.
The land- tortoise lives in holes dug in the
mountains or near marshy lakes ; the sea-turtle
in cavities of rocks and extensive pastures at
the bottom of the sea ; this chiefly uses its feet
in swimming and creeping at the bottom ; while
the former employs its feet to walk with, and
burrow in the ground.

The land-tortoise has a small head, some-
what resembiing that of a serpent; an eye with-
out the upper lid ; the under eye-lid serving to-
cover, and keep that organ in safet\^ It has a
strong scaly tail like the lizard ; it can at plea-
sure put out or hide its head under the great
penthouse of its shell, where, defended on every
side, it remains secure from all attack. It lives
chiefly on vegetable food, and never acts offen-
sively ; though any of the smaller animals who
invade its repose, suffer smartly for their te-
merity ; for the tortoise is possessed of such

strength

256 NATURAL HISTORY

Strength of jaw, that though armed only
with boney plates, instead of teeth, whenever
it fastens it infallibly keeps its hold till it has
taken out the piece.

The longevity, and the difficulty of destroy-
ing these animals are indeed extraordinary :
so much so, that we are almost tempted to
adopt Goldsmith's assertion, *' that nothing
can kill them'' When Rhedi was making
some observations upon animal motion, he
drew the brains from the head of a land-tor-
toise, by making a large opening in its skull,
and washed the cavity so as not to leave the
smallest part remaining: and then, leaving
the hole open, set the animal at liberty —
*' notwithstanding which the tortoise march-
" e<l away, without seeming to have received
" the smallest injury : — only it shut the eyes,
" aud never opened them afterwards.''

The hole in the skull, we are told, was
seen to close, and in three or four days there
was a complete skin covering the wound.
In this manner the animal lived without a
brain for six months, walking about uncon-
cernedly, and moving its limbs as before.

The humanity of the Italian philosopher was
not satisfied with this experiment, for he carried

it

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. O57

it a degree farther : '* he cut off the head, and
" the animal Hved twenty-three days after its
•* separation from the body. The head also
"continued to rattle the jaws, hke a pair of
*' castenets, for above a quarter of an hour."
Such is the longevity of turtles, that they
are commonly known to exceed eighty years
of age ; and Goldsmith says there was one
kept in the Archbishop of Canterbury's gar-
den at Lambeth, that had been remembered
above a hundred and twenty. It was at last
killed by the severity of a frost, from which it
had not sutTiciently defended itself in its
winter retreat, which was a heap of sand at
the bottom of the garden.

This principle of vitality seems not easily to
be accounted for, as its food is the simplest
possible, though in its choice not very delicate;
it indifferently feeds on leaves, fruit, corn,&c.
and usually fills itself with whatever offers.

Like the bat, the serpent, the lizard, and
some other animals, the tortoise retires to some
cavern to sleep during the winter; and at the
time that food is no longer in plenty, the tor-
toise becomes insensible to its want ; but it is
sufficiently attentive to make its retreat as
comfortable as possible, by furnishing it with
moss, grass, and other substances, as well for
VOL. IV. L 1 warmth

§58 NATURAL HISTORY

warmth as provision, should it prematurely
awake from its repose, which seldom happens,
however, until the genial return of spring, and
when there is scarcely any diminution of its
weight from its long confinement.

Soon after its return from torpidity, it pre-
pares for the continuance of its species ; but as
all its actions are slow, and adapted to a crea-
ture of great longevity, so the genial embrace
is said to be of proportional duration. The
amount of the land tortoise's eggs are not as-
certained, but from the scarcity of the animal
they cannot be supposed to be very numerous-.

Previously to the deposition of her eggs,
the female tortoise scratches a slight hole in
some warm situation, where the beams of the
sun have their whole effect ; there she leaves
them, covered with grass and leaves, to be
hatched by the heat of the season. In about
twenty-six or thirty days the young tortoises
are excluded, and no sooner quit the egg,
than they seek after provision, the shell which
covers them expanding with their growth.

The tortoise is supposed to destroy insects
and snails in great abundance ; it is there-
fore taken into gardens ; and in hot countries
t :ev are dome-^ticated, being great destroyers
of bugs. Almost every famiiy at the Cape

of

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 259

of Good Hope keeps a small land-tortoise,
in the inclosed yard, behind the offices of
the house, for the purpose of avoiding the
pest of rats» which will not approach any
place where the land-tortoise is harboured.
One of these creatures was, some few years
ago, very successfully kept, for the same
purpose, in a small back garden of a house
in Henrietta-Street, Covent-Garden. How
they can be expert at such work as catching
vermin, is not easy to be conceived ; but they
appear in general harmless, and even fond of
employment.

Walcot mentions the African tortoise, (tes^
tudo GrcecaJ the shell of which is of a greenish
yellow ; the scales on the back marked irre-
gularly in the disk and edge, and the side
ones obliquely with black; down the belly
are two broad black stripes ; tail short, no
toes, five claws to the fore-feet, four to the
hind. It inhabits Africa, feeds on vegetables,
moves slowly, partly owing to the side bend of
the legs ; at the approach of winter buries it-
self in the earth, where it passes that season in
a torpid state. Its flesh is reckoned more pa-
latable than the turtles of the Mediterranean.

The torpidity, or cessation from taking food,

of the tortoises during a portion of the winter

L 1 2 months.

260 NATURAL HISTORY

months, is among the most singular of tlieir
peculiarities : though in the animal creatioq
we observe several other instances of long
abstinence. It is the natural course for
divers species to pass four, five, or six
months every year without either eating or
drinking : besides tin? tortoise, the bear, dor-
mouse, serpent, swallow, fly, &:c. are observed
regularly to retire, at these seasons, to their
respective cells, and hide themselves, some
in the caverns of rocks, or ruins ; others dig-
holes under ground ; others get into the
woods, and lay themselves up in the clefts of
trees ; and some are supposed to bury them-
selves under water.

In effect, several species of birds, almost the
whole tribe of insects, and many among the
other tribes, are able to subsist all winter, not
only without food, but many of them without
respiration. This furnishes an admirable in-
stance of the wisdom of the Creator : the pro-
per food of these creatures, especially of the
insect tribe, being then wanting, there is a pro-
vision for them to, live without it. When the
fields are divested of their flowery furniture,
and the trees and .plants are stripped of their
fruits, what woiiftd become of such animals as
live upon the produce of spring and summer ?

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 2(5l

And when the air is grown rigid and chilly
with frost, what would become of the many-
tender species who are impatient of cold ?
To prevent the total destruction and extir-
pation of many species of animals, the Au-
thor of Nature has provided that creatures
thus bereaved of their food should hkewise
be impatient of cold, to lead them thus to
shelter themselves out of the way of danger ;
and that when there arrived, the natural tex-
ture and viscidity of the blood should dispose
it, by a further degree of cold, to lag and stag-
nate in the vessels ; so that the circulation
stopping, and the animal functions being in a
great measure suspended, there is no sensible
waste or consumption of parts, but they remaia
in a kind of drowsy neutral state, between life
and death, until the warm sun revives both
them and their food together, by thawing the
congealed juices both of such animals and ve-
getables.

It is more than probable, that all motion of
the animal juices is extinct in flies, and other
insects, when thus asleep, because, even when
cut in pieces, they do not awake, nor does any
fluid ooze out of the wound, unless some extra-
ordinary degree of warmth has been first ap-
plied to unbind the ice— The sleep of such

animals

262 NATURAL HISTORY

animals is little else than death, and their
waking a resurrection — for if life does not con-
sist in the circulation of the blood, in what it
does still remains to be discovered. Hence it is
no wonder that tortoises, dormice, bears, &;c.
are found as fat and fleshy after some months
abstinence as before. Sir G. Ent weighed a
tortoise several years successively at its going
to earth in October, and on its coming out again
in March ; and found that, of four pounds four
ounces, it only used to lose about one ounce.
Philosophical Transactions, No. 194.

Indeed we have instances of men passing
several months as strictly abstinent as other
creatures. The records of the Tower mention
a Scotchman imprisoned for felony, and
strictly watched in that fortress for six weeks,
in all which time he took not the least suste-
nance, and for which he had his pardon. The
German Ephemerides speak of one Martha
Taylor, who, by a blow on the back, fell into
such a loss of appetite, that she took no suste-
nance, except a few drops with a feather,
for thirteen months ; but this was a morbid
and unnatural case, for she slept but little
all the time. We ma}? add the instance of
S. Chiltow, of Tinsbury, near Bath, who,
in the year 1693, 1694, and 1695, slept some-
times

OF BIRDS, nsH, Sec, 263

times four months, and sometimes above six
together, with very httle food ; and six weeks
without any more than a httle tent, conveyed
with a quill into hib mouth through a hole in
his teeth. Philosophical Transactions, No. 304.
It is to be added, that in most instances of
long abstinence related by naturalists, there
were apparent marks of a texture of blood,
and humours much like that of summer
beasts and insects. It is no improbable opi-
nion, however, that the air itself may furnish
something for nutrition. It is certain that
there are substances of all kinds, animal, ve-
getable, &c. floating in the atmosphere, which
must be continually taken in by respiration.
And that an animal body may be nourished
thereby, is evident in the instance of vipers,
w^hich, if taken when first brought forth, and
kept from every thing but air, wdil yet grow
very considerably in a few days. So the
eggs of lizards are observed to increase in
bulk, after they are produced, though there
be nothing to furnish the increment but air
alone ; after the like manner, as the ec^gs
or spawn of fish grow, and are nourished with
the water. And hence, say some, it is that
cooks, turnspit dogs, &c. though they eat but
little, yet are usually fat.

The

$G4 NATURAL HISTORY

The turtle is found much larger than the
land-tortoise :— the sea, indeed, is possessed
of the property of increasing the magnitude
of animals which are congenial to that ele-
ment. The great Mediterranean turtle is
the largest of the kind known ; but its uti-
lity is by no means proportioned to its size ;
it is so far unfit for food, that it is even said
to be poisonous; and the shell, which re-
sembles a hide, is unfit for any useful
purpose. One of these was caught in 1729,
at the mouth of the Loire, nearly eight
feet in length and two over, furnished with
teeth in each jaw ; and a tail quite dis-
engaged from the body, fifteen inches in
length. Some others of this species have
been since taken upon o-ar coasts, that
weighed from seven to eight hundred weight;
but an attempt to feast upon them has always
been attended with disagreeable, or rather
almost fatal consequences.

This is not the case with the different sorts
which are imported for the gratification of
luxury, and which are become the favourite
food of those who are fond of eating much
without the danger of surfeiting.

Four speciesof turtle have been mentioned as
caught in the South Sea and Indian Ocean, viz.

the

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 565

the trunk tiwtie, the loggerhead, the hawkshill,
and the green turtle.

Of the three first, the flesh is very in-
different eating ; but the shell of the hawks-
bill serves for many valuable purposes. The
substance of the other shells is thin and
porous ; that of the former is firm, and when
polished is beautifully marbled, weighing
from three to six pounds. The shell consists
of thirteen plates, or leaves, of which eight
are flat, and five hollow ; and are separated
by putting a fire under the shell when the
flesh is taken out ; and when scraped on both
sides, they become beautifully transparent.
"' 1^\\Q green turtle fTestudo My das J has the
fore fins of an oblong oval ; those of the
male are furnished with two claws ; hind
fins broad and round at the end, with one
claw ; shell convex, smooth, oi a reddish
brow^n, broke with a yellow, and rayed with
a deep brown or black ; sutures of the shell
and edge of the side- scales w^aved ; belly a
pale yellow.

In the "Philosophical Transactions for 177-1,
Article 35, we have an account of two new-
turtles, by Mr. Pennant:- -one of them, which
had never before been described, is found in
fresh water, and is peculiar to the southern
VOL. jv. M m rivers

96& NATURAL IMSTORT

rivei-s of America, particularly in Savannah
and Altamaha rivers.

It is called the soft-turtle shelled, because
the covering looks like leather, and for the
most part is veiy smooth and pliable. It is
very swift, and very fierce ; its size is various,
and it sometimes amounts to seventy pounds
Weight.

The colouring of the shell is a dark brown,
■with a slight tinge of green. The middle part
is strong and boney, but round the sides and
towards the tail it is cartilaginous, soft, and
pliable, resembling thin tanned sole-leather.
All the hinder part of the back is full of oblong
smooth knobs, and the fore part is studded
with knobs of a larger size.

The inside of it is very beautiful, of a bright
whitish colour, interspersed with innumerable
ramifications of blood-vessels. 1 he undeF
part of this shell, or coat, is white, and reaches
two or three inches farther forward than the
other, so that it affords rest and support for
the head. The hinder part is hard and boney,
and in shape resembles a saddle, with two
pieces for the thighs to rest on. The fore-
part is pliable and cartilaginous.

The head is somewhat triangularly shaped
and lengthened, and the neck is easily ex-
tended

OF BIRDS, nsH, &c. 967

tended to a great length. The eyes are near
to each other, and have large loose palpebrce.
The pupil is surrounded by a lemon-coloured
iris, perfectly round, and giving much fire to
the eyes. When the animal sleeps, tlie loose
part of the low^er palpebrae is brought over
the eye, like the membmna nictitans of bird?.

The nostrils are the most singular ; being,
in an animal which weighed only twenty
pounds, a cartilaginous production, of at least
three- fourths of an inch beyond the upper
and fore angle of the upper lip ; perforated
with two apertures, which reach back, and
epen into the roof of the mouth, having a
smooth septum on each side.

The arms are thick and strong, consisting
of three distinct joints, the upper, the fore
ann, and the hand. The hands have each
ijwe fingers ; the legs resemble the arms.
The tail is large and thick ; and the flesh
a greater delicacy than even the green
turtle.

The ttiherculated turtle ^ Mr, Pennant sup-
poses to be the testudo coriana of Linnaeus ;
but he is not acquainted with its place and
history. It is somewhat more than three
inches long, and an inch and an half broad.
The back is divided lengthways by five pro^

M m ^ mineat

56s NATURAL HISTORY

minent ribs, covered with large yellow tu-*
bercles. The w^hole circumference of the
back is also bounded by a tuberculated
rib, and the coat, or shell, is in all its parts
pliable.

The belly is yellow, tuberculated like the
back, and marked with six rows, greatly
prominent, and has four fnis, but neither toes
nor nails on either of them.

Some of our ancient travellers have asserted,
that the turtle was delicious, while others as
strongly asserted that it was poisonous . this
contradiction is easily solved by recurring to
what we have said of the Mediterranean tur-
tle ; and it was by slow degrees only that the
distinction came to be made between such as
"were malignant and such as were wholesome :
a knowledge w^e chiefly owe to Dam pier, who
recommends the green turtle to be salted up
for ship's provisions in case of Necessity,
though he hardly could foresee that this ani-
mal should make its way to the luxurious
tables of Europe, and by that means gluttony
be freed from one of its greatest restmnts, the
danger of a surfeit. And yet, to eat this crea-
ture in perfection, an epicure should take a
voyage to the West-Indies ; for, even after the
best contrivanges to import them in safety and

vigour.

OF BIRDS, FISH, kc. 969

vigour, they are generally battered and lean
on their arrival.

From^the general appetite for devouring
this animal, they are not only thinned in their
numbers, but have become much more shy ;
and their bulk, if we can credit the testimony
of ancient writers, is much less than for-
merly ; a circumstance attributable to the
same cause, Dampier speaks of one taken
at Port Royal, in Jamaica, that was six feet
broad across the back ; and that a boy about
ten years of age sailed in the shell as in a
boat, from the shore to his father's ship,
which was about a quarter of a mile from
land. Yet Diodorus Siculus, ^lian, and
Pliny, represent the turtles of their days as
still larger— prodigiously so indeed!— for a
certain people in Ethiopia, after eating the
flesh made a tent of the shell. And in the
island of Taprobane, (an island in the Indian
sea) the houses were usually covered with a
single shell. The greatest size spoken of by
modern writers is on the Isle of Cuba, where
they grow so large, that five men can stand
upon the back of them together ; yet this is a
very uncertain way of estimating their di-
mensions.

This creature differs from those amphibious

animals

270 NATURAL HISTORY

animals which occasionally reside in th*
water, as it seldom quits the sea except to
deposit its eggs, or to sport in fresh water-
It is on their excursions to lay, when they are
usually fat and healthy, that the turtles are
commonly taken, and in the following
manner, at least upon those uninhabited
islands to which the green turtle chiefly resorts.
The men employed on this business land
about night fall, and keep perfectly still when
they see the turtle coming on shore. When
she has proceeded to her greatest distance from
the sea, and when she is most busily employed
in scratching a hole in the sand, they sally out
and surprise her. Father Labat, on whose aoi-
thority we here speak, says, that their manner
is to turn her upon her back, which utterly in-
capacitates her from moving ; and yet, as the
creature is very strong, and struggles very
hard, tw^o men find it no easy matter to lay
her over. When thus secured, they go to the
next, and, in this manner, in less than three
hours, they have been known to turn forty or
fifty turtles, each of which weighs from a hun-
dred and fifty to two hundred pounds. The
«ame writer assures us, that when the animal
is in this helpless situation, it is heard to sigh
very heavily, and is even seen to shed tears.

The

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 271

The chief food of the turtle is a submarine
plant, that covers the bottom of several
parts of the sea, not far from the shore ;
though the}?^ often seek their provisions among
the rocks, feeding upon the moss and sea-
weed ; and probably sometimes upon insects
and other small animals. According to the
relation of navigators, when the sea is calm,
and the weather serene, the tortoises are seen
feeding on the green carpet at the bottom
of the sea, where the depth is but a few fa-
thoms : — after they have fed sufficiently^
they take their progress into the outlets of
rivers for fresh water ; there they take in a
refreshing air, and then return to their former
ibtation. In the intermission of their feeding:,
they generally float with their heads above
the surface of the water, unless they are
alarmed by the motions of any hunters or
birds of prey, in which case they suddenly
plunge to the bottom.

Their time of coupling is from March till
May ; and their intercourse is of great dura-
tion : on this occasion they resort to low, flat,
gandy coasts, as the sand seems a very conve-
nient receptacle for their eggs; and in pursuit
of a proper or favourite situation, they often
take very considerable voyage:^.

Their

272 NATURAL HISTORY-

Their eggs are always deposited in cavi-
ties, in the sand, a httle above the edge
where the surges beat, and they cover them
very hghtly, that the sun may communi-
cate to them a gentle vvannth, and hatch
their young. Whilst they are making pre-
paration for their family, they furnish man-
kind and birds with a very plentiful provision;
for they lay their eggs thrice, at the ex-
piration of every fifteen days, and generally
produce fourscore or ninety, or even more, at
each fecundation.

When the creature has selected a spot for
her nest, which is generally done about the
close of evening, she returns witliout laying
that night ; but on the next, goes to deposit a
part of her burthen ; having scraped a round
hole about one foot diameter, and a foot and a
half deep, she leaves about eighty or ninety
eg:E>s, which are laid in about the space of an
hour, each nearly as big as a hen's egg.

At the conclusion of about twenty-five days
the young tortoises are seen to rise out of the
sand, and, without any guide or instructions,
march with a gentle pace to the water ; but
the waves unfortunately throw them back ou
the shore for the first few days, and then the
birds dart upon them, aad carry oft" the genera-
lity.

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. §73

lity, before they have sufficient strength to
make proper efforts against the surges, and
dive to the bottom. So that out of three hun-
dred eggs, it seldom happens that more than
ten escape, and sometimes they are all de*
stroyed.

It should seem, at the first view, that Na-
ture, in this instance, charges herself with an
unnecessary expense, or is even imperfect in
her operations. But the falsehood and in-
justice of such tm-epinion is immediately evi-
dent. We never complain of the fertility of the
hen, who frequently presents us with near a
hundred eggs in a year, when not one chick is
permitted to be hatched. We are very sensible
that the intention of the Author of Nature, in
this admirable fecundity, is to facilitate the
preservation of the species, and, at the same
time, to accommodate man and other animals
with an excellent food : so that nothing in the
works of Nature is either lost or defective ;
and particular advantages are derived even
from the slowness of a tortoise's motions ; for
were she more expeditious, what a number of
animals would be frustrated of their food ?

Among the enemies which the young tur-
tles have to fear, the parents themselves have
been mentioned by some ancient writers, who
VOL, IV. N n say

S74 I^ATURAL HISTORY

say that the mother waits for their arrival &t
the edge of the deep, and devours as many a^
she can. This circumstance is not well con-
firmed ; though it is well Icnown that the
crocodile acts in this unnatural manner.

The calls of luxury have excited a variety
of inventions to take these creatures ; some-
times, when coupled together, by throwing a
lioose round their feet or neck : sometimes by
striking them with a harpoon ; and sometimes
by diving underneath them, and seizing them
by the tail when asleep on the surface of the
water, having a boat ready to receive them.

JiT^auMia.

Cro ro {lilt jr £9^-

OF BIRDS, nsH, &;c. 275

^\^,n I nn'i . m

THE CROCODILE.

THIS animal has been usually placed
among the lizard tribe ; though we have here
presumed to deviate from that arbitrary ar-
rangement, and describe it with the amphi-
bious creatures. The tail is two-edged, the
feet triangular ; the fore ones having five, and
the hinder only four toes.

Within the mouth of this beast are two
jaws of pointed teeth ; its eyes are large, fiery,
projecting out of the head, and secured within
an osseous orbit, but immoveable, so that they
can only see as they w^alk straight forward.
The upper part of the snout and forehead
consists of one fixed bone, reaching to the
ears, which are broad, surrounded with a
little border, and growing near the joint of
the upper jaw, where also the largest scales
begin. The upper part of the body is fenced
with chomboidical scales, so closely joined
together, that no separation is discernible,
and a circular streak on each.

N n 2 They

i

276 NATURAL HISTORY

They are of a deep saffron yellow, mixed
with a dark bay. All along the sides and
back, to the end of the tail, are dented ranges
of bosses. The scales on its thighs, legs, and
toes, are beautifull}- variegated with a light
yellow, and bright chesnut. Some crocodiles
liave five toes, both on their fore and hind
feet ; others have only four toes on their hind
feet, but the fore feet have universally five
toes, with pointed and crooked nails ; so that
in reality they are not so much like the foot
of a beast as a man's hand with the four fin-
gers and thumb extended ; besides, in aquatic
crocodiles, the toes of the hind feet are joined
by a membrane like those of geese.

They chiefly haunt such large rivers as the
Niger, Ganges, Nile, or near the sea-shore ;
never launching ont far, either from fear of
other monsters, or the convenience of laying
their eggs in the sand to be hatched by the
sun ; these are from twenty to fifty in number,
in size equal to a goose egg, but the shell is
more brittle, and the contiguous tunicle botli
thicker and tougher.

When the httle animal has thrust his head
through these two, he is not able to get his
fore feet and the rest of his body out of the
shell, for the navel-string is connected with

the

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 277

the yolk of the egg, and closely wrapt about
the foetus, being the conveyance of that nou-
rishment whereby, at length, it gathers
strength entirely to free itself from every ob-
struction. Thus the decrease of the yolk
being the grovjrth of the embryo, when it
leaves the shell it carries along with it the
remainder of the yolk, contained in a mem-
brane fastened to the navel-string. Besides
this struig, there is another ligament, like the
after-birth, the ends of which join to the in-
ward tunicle, and to the belly of the foetus.
Upon its being hatched, the navel-string and
the after-birth detach themselves from the
parts to which they are connected, and the
infant crocodile is then enabled to begin his
life of rapine.

The Leviathan of Scripture has been a sub-
ject of dispute among the learned ; some
fixing upon one animal, and some upon ano-
ther. Dr. Shaw, who was doubtless well
acquainted with eastern learning, is of opinion
that the leviathan is no other than the croco-
dile, ** which, from the scaly quality and
•* hardness of its coat, (or, in the language of
•* Job, whose scales so stick together, that they
** cannot be sundered) is in no danger of hav-
" ing his skin filled with barbed irons, or his

" head

$78 NATURAL HISTORY

<* head with fish spears. The crocodile is of
*' too great weight and magnitude, likewise,
•* to be drawn out of the river, as fish usually
** are, with a hook. The crocodile then, from
** these apposite characters, may well be taken
" for the leviatljan, as described in the book
" of Job." This conjecture is also adopted
in Calmet*s Dictionaiy.

But the crocodile is entirely a river animal,
and never found in the sea ; and yet, in the
lQ4th psalm, the leviathan is described to be
an inhabitant of the great and wide sea, of
the same ocean that is navigated by ships.
If the Royal Psalmist's description be strictly
appropriate, then the leviathan cannot be the
crocodile.

A distinction which, perhaps, does not exist
in nature, is sometimes made between the
crocodile and the alligator, the body of the
former being said to be more slender than that
qf the latter ; its snout runs off tapering from
the forehead, like that of a greyhound, while
that of thQ other is indented, like the nose of a
lap-dog. The crocodile has a much wider
swallow, and is of an ash colour ; the alligator
is black varied with white, and is thought not
to b€ so mischievous ; but these distinctions
ar^ probiibiy no more than minute variations.

Of

Of the history of all the ravenous of savage
tribes of animal nature, the inhabitants of
Europe are least interested in that of the
crocodile ; for it is placed at a happy distance
from cultivated society. Nor, indeed, is the
crocodile at present that dreadful tyrant
which formerly laid waste the banks of the
Nile, and excited whole countries to repress
its ravages. To view it in its natural terrors,
and committing unceasing devastations, we
Hiust go to those immense rivers, that roll
through the uninhabited regions of Africa
and America ; where the arts and industry
of mankind have not operated to the de-
struction or the enfeeblement of all the greater
animals.

In the river of the Amazons, and in the Ni-
ger, these terrible destroyers still possess a .
residence, where they are found from eighteen
to thirty feet long ; they frequently lie close
to each other, and indolently bask on the
surface ; so that a person not used to them
might mistake them for trunks of trees, co-
vered with a rough and dry bark ; the un-
happy mistake would too soon be discovered,
for the torpid animal, at the near approach
of any living thing, darts upon it with instant

swiftness,

£80 NATURAL HISTORY

swiftness, and at once drags it down to the
bottom.

In times of inundation the crocodile has been
known to enter the cottages of the natives,
where the dreadful visitant seizes the first ani-
mal it meets with. There have been examples
of their taking a man out of a canoe, although
there were several others in it, and with such
dexterity as to prevent their giving him any
assistance.

The crocodile's conformation denotes amaz-
ing strength in every part ; the back-bone is
closely join ted and firmly united ; in both hind
and fore-legs the muscles are very strong ; its
teeth are sharp and very numerous, and its
whole form is calculated to shew the power it
contains to exercise its natural weapons, which
are irresistible ; the principal of which is its
tail ; with a single blow of that it has been
known to overturn a canoe, and by that
means come with more ease at the conductor.

These animals very seldom leave the water,
except to deposit their eggs, or when pressed
with hunger. They in general float along
upon the surface, and devour whatever kind
of living creature comes within their reach, but
when they experience a scarcity on that ele-
ment

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 281

ment they approach the land, and lying quite
under the banks, seize whatever animal comes
to drink, by making a surprising spring, and,
securing its hold both with teeth and claws,
drag the victim under the water, and having
thus drowned, devour it at ease.

There are various accounts given of the man-
ner in which they are taken: in Siam, very
strong nets are placed across the river at pro-
per distances, where the creature, when caught,
is suffered to exhaust its strength ; the natives
then approach him in boats, and wound him in
several places, till he is perfectly weakened by
loss of blood; his mouth is then tied up, his
head is fastened to his tail, which is bent back
like a bow, and he is otherwise secured, and
when brought into subjection, is used to divert
and entertain the great men of the East. It is
managed, we are told by travellers like a horse,
having a curb in its mouth, and being directed
as the rider thinks proper. — But in other parts
of the world, as well as at Siam, the crocodile
is an object of savage pomp; for Philips, a voy-
ager to the Guinea coast, informs us that there
are two pools of water near the royal palace at
Sabi, where crocodiles are bred, as we breed
carps in our ponds in Europe.
ro£. IV. O o What

982 NATURAIi HISTORY

What we have hitherto sakl is applicSible to
the crocodiles in unpeopled countries only,
where they retain their fierce and savage na-
ture, and where they shew a contempt for man
until they have experienced his powers of
destruction ; but wherever the crocodile has
been Imrrassedby mankind , its retreats invaded,
and its numbers destroyed, it is there timorous
and inoffensive ;— nay, not merely inoffensive,
for it is said even to l)e cherished and admired ;
and, in the opposite extreme, so gentle and
harmless are the ctx>codiles in the river San
Domingx), that the children play with them,
rido upon their backs, and even beat them with*
out receiving the smallest injury.

The generation of the crocodile is very si-
milar in all respects to that of the turtle ; ex*
cept that at the period of vivification the fe-
male is instinctively taught that her young ones
want relief, and she goes on land to set them
free. But no sooner are they at liberty than
they find their parent among the most unna*
turai of their enemies, and she devours as many
of them as she is able.

But it is not the crocodile alone that thins
their numbers ; for to the negroes, a crocodile's
egg is the most delicate morsel in the world ;

and

Ol RIRBS, nSH, &€. S83

and they neither spare pains nor labour to ob-
tain tbi^ £i^vouFite recast, A p^Fti<eMJi^ secies
of the vulture, as we have already mentioned,
also exerts its power in abridging the fecun-
dity of the crocodile, attentively watching the
female at the time of her laying, and flocking
in great numbers upon tbe hidden treasure ;
they tear up the eggs, and devour them in much
shorter time than thi^y were deposited.

Kot withstanding the extraordinary account
given both by Linng^us aud other distinguished
BaturaJjgts, yet the fact of tlie crocodile*a de-s
vouring her offspring is doubted by some.
There is one species of this creature called the
open bellied crocodile^ which, like the opossvim,
is furnished with a false belly, into which the
young creep when danger is apprehended ; but
probably this species is viviparous, and fosters
tier young, that are prematurely excluded, in
tl^is second woj^b until they arrive at naaturity.

Of the time the§e animals e:j^ist, there are
many opinions among tlw ancients, who were
extremely partial to the invention [of fabUa
respecting them ; but the most likely is that
of Aristotle, who supposes the term of their
live§ to be about that of the hui^an species.
OoS

84 NATURAL HISTOnY

TESTACEOUS FISH.

SYSTEMATIC distinctions, and specific
divisions of things are useful in enlarging the
comprehension of the mind : by methodizing
the objects, they seem to extend the boundaries
of knowledge ; but having no real foundation
j-n nature, they should not be depended on too
far ; for the aptitude w^hich we have at com-
bining very dissimilar objects in the same
group, when hurried into the vortex of me-,
thod, is evident from having placed the whale
and the lippet, the tortoise and the oyster in
the same order of animated beings, merely
because they have one common abode.

Testaceous fish have been usually divided
jnto three kinds. The wiivalve, or turbinated,
the bivalve, and the multivalve.

The shell may be considered as a habita-
tion of the animal furnished by nature : part
of the stony substance of which the animal

derives

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 285

derives from outward objects ; and the fluida
of the animal itself furnish the cement.

But to give a more exact idea of the manner
in which sea-shells are formed, we must begin
with the animal in its earliest state, and trace
the progress of its shell from the time it first
appears ; for this purpose we select the shell
of the garden snail. The animal does not leave
the egg till its httle habitation is sufficiently
hardened. The beginning of the shell is not
much larger than a pin's head, but grows in a
very rapid manner, having at first but two cir-
cumvolutions, for the rest are added as the snail
becomes larger. In proportion as the snail en-
creases in size the circumvolutions of the shell
increase also, until the number of the volutes
come to be five, which it never exceeds.

To Swammerdam, the Dutch naturalist,
whose industrious researches deserve the praise
of every succeeding writer on the subject, we
stand indebted for much of what we have to
say on this head. The part, says he, where
the animal enlarges its shell, is at the mouth, to
which it adds in proportion as it finds itself
stinted in its habitation below. Being about
to enlarge its shell, it is seen with its little
teeth biting and clearing away the scaly skin

that

9S6 NATURAL HISTORY

that grows at the edges. It is sometimes seen
to eat those bits it thus takes off; at other times
it only clears away the margin when covered
with fUms, and then adds another rim to its
shell.

For the purpose of making the shell, witli-
out which the arvimal could hardly exist a few
days, the whole body is furnished with glands,
from which flows out a slimy liquor, which in
time (though perhaps not without the aid of
some extraneous matter) acquires a stony hard-
ness. And that glistening substance which the
snail leaves in its track on the floor or a wall,
is no other than the materials with wliich the
animal adds to its shell, or repairs it when
b>rolven.

The extraneous matter w^hich goes to the
composition of the shell, or at least to its ex-
ternal coat, which differs veiy evidently from
the internal, is the accidental concretions of
earthy or saline parts which adhere to the
slimy matter on its first emission.

Under this idea we can more satisfactorily
account for the various colours of the shell,
which cannot be supposed to take its tincture
ftom theanimaPs body; for all the internalparts
of the shell are hut of one white colour ; where-
as on their outsides we find them of almost

every

or fiiUDs, FiBir, ^. ^7

erery colour but blue; and that they nevei" pre-
feerv^e any of the latter colour is easily to be
accounted for, by the flict of sea- water, urine,
or nitre, entirely d fa win;nr it from any substance.
Thus then we may easily suppose the various
colours are produced, not only by the juices
which the animal furnishes, but from the mix-
ture of sea or earthy particles which unites with
them ; for neither the animal slime, uor the
external earthy or saline particles could pro
duce colours of themselves, but being united^
produce that variety which adorns the watery
element; and it is not improbable that the
nature of its food , as well as many external
causes, may co-operate in contributino- to it«
beauty.

But although the colouring of the shell k
flot to be entirely attributed to the animal itself,
yet it certainly has the merit of giving it the
general form, which solely depends upon th«
art, or rather instinct that Nature has bestowed
upon each distinct species, and from whence il
is that in the same kinds, the shapes are con-
stantly invariable. If their bodies possess any
tumour or excrescence, the incrustaceous co-
vering is surely to have one that corresponds;
when the animal makes any addition to its
apartment, the same protuberance which had
i-aised the shell in its early days, swells it again

at

5SS NATURAL HISTORT

at some little distance, by which means we
see the same inequality in a spiral line all
jound the shell. In a word, if the body be
channelled, the shell which covers it will be
channelled, and if it has any protuberances,
the shell will have them also in the exact size
and shape.

Added to the beauty and diversity of shells,
their numbers almost exceed belief, for besides
those found in the sea, rivers, and with living
animals upon land, they have been discover-
ed in the bowels of the earth, forming banks
of many fathoms in depth and breadth, and
extending several miles in length : the latter
of which, both from their m-jltiplicity and
greater variety, were long considered by the
most eminent naturalists as the capricious pro-
ductions of Nature, never having been the ha-
bitation of an animal, nor been in any
other situation than that in which they were
discovered. But that opinion has long since
been exploded, and it is now generally ad-
mitted, wherever found, or in whatever quan-
tities, they are the spoils of some animals who
once received shelter therein, and are com-
posed of one and the same substance ; namely,
that they are formed of an animal, or calcare-
ous earth, which ferments with vinegar,
and other acids, and that burns into lime, and

will

OF BIRDS, fISH, &C. ^89

tTill not easily melt into glass: — this subject is
most amply treated on in the lirst volume of
the present work, pap^e 91D.

Many persons, struck with the variety and
beauty of shells, have made the collection of
them the principal pursuit of their lives. It
is true that such pursuits are harmless and
amusing, but little knowledge can be drawn
from the most extensive cabinet of shells that
ever was collected together ; it is to those men
who have contemplated something more than
the outsides of these animals, that we must
resort to for information on their nature and
history. Rheaumer paid great attention to
their manners, and spent much time in exa-
mining and describing them with accuracy;
but to the indefatigable industry of Swam-
merdam, mankind are much more indebted
for knowledge on this subject. The patience
and pei^evemnce of this naturalist in the pur-
suit is almost beyond credibility : he had not
only the difficulties attending the object, but
also the prejudices of mankind to encounter,
who were constantly ridiculing him for the
undertaking. " It was in vain," says a judi-
cious modern, " that Swammerdam's father
" dissuaded him from what the world consi-
VOL. IV. r p « ^Jered

290 NATURAL HISTORY

" dered as a barren pursuit; it was in vain that
"an habitual disorder, brought on by his ap-
" plication, interrupted his efforts ; it was in
" vain that mankind treated him with ridicule
** while living, as they suffered his works to re-
" main long neglected and unprinted when
" dead : still the Dutch philosopher went on
" peeping into unwholesome ditches, wading
" through fens, dissecting spiders, and enume-
" rating the blood-vessels of a snail ; like the
*' bees, whose heart he could not only distin-
" guish but dissect, he seemed instinctively
" impelled by his ruling passion, although he
" found nothing but ingratitude from man,
** and though his industry was apparently be-
*' come fatal to himself."

Indifference, however, to the talents of this
great naturalist no longer exists; his merit
shone through the gleam that ignorance cast
round him, and his fame becomes m6re esta-
blished, as his works become more consulted.
To his labours all succeeding naturalists have
been indebted for the leading features in the his-
tory of animals that breed in shells; and though
they have been able to relate more particulars,
it was his genius that gave the clue to their
discoveries ; and therefore it is to him that we

consider

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 291

consider ourselves the most indebted for the
contents of this part of our work.

In searching into the history of the turbi-
nated sht'U-fish, or those of the snail-kind^ we
are naturally led to bring forward at the head
of them, the garden-snail, as one whose pe-
culiarities it has been more easy to deveiope,
than those which are perfectly of a similar form
and nature, but whose residence is chiefly at the
bottom of the deep. The snail, to the mere
transient observer, appears tobe littlemore than
a lump of inactive matter, loaded with a cruF-
taceous covering, and totally insensible to all
the objects with which it is surrounded; but
upon a more close inspection it will be found
to be possessed of every faculty that can be pos-
sibly requisite for the life it is formed to lead;
that its organs of life are furnished in as ample
a manner as are to be found in any animal of
the largest dimensions; that it has a tongue,
brain, salival ducts, glands, nerves, stomach,
and intestines ; also liver, heart, and blood-ves-
sels, with a purple bag that supplies a red mat-
ter to different parts of the body, together witJi
strong muscles that hold it to the shell, and
which are hardened hke tendons at their in-
sertion.

So far it may be said to possess quahties in

common with other animals; but besides these

P p ^2 it

299 NATURAL HISTORY

it has several peculiarities ; the most striking
of which is the having its eyes placed on the
points of the laraest horns. When the snail is
in motion fonr horns are plainly seen, the two
topmost considerably bigger than the others,
and at the extremities of those are the two
^yes, which ajjpear like bright black spots;
Ihey are of a bulbous figure, have but one
coat, and three humours, which -^ve common
in the eyes of other animals, namely, the
yitveous, aqueous, and crystalline. The ani-
mal possesses the power of directing its eyes
to any objects at will, and to preserve them
from injury, can instantaneously contract them
under the belly. Under the small horns is
situated the mouth, and although the idea
of teeth may appear inconsistent with an ani-
mal of such soft substance, it nevertheless pos-
sesses no less than eight, with which it is
enabled to devour leaves and many other sulv
stances seemingly harder than itself; nay,
upon particular occasions, it will even bite off
pieces of its own shell with them.

The next peculiarity in the snailkind is their
being both male and female, and that while it
impregnates another, it is capable of being im-
pregnated itself. The vessels which supply
the fluid for generation are principally placed
on the fore- part of the neck, and extend them-
selves

OF 'BIRDS, riSH, &c. 293

selves over the whole body ; but the male and
female organs are almost united and grow
close to each other. On the right side of the
neck it has an opening which serves for very
different purposes ; in the first place it may
be considered as the anus, it being the pas-
sage by which the e?vcrements are excluded ;
next as a mouth, as through it the animal con-
stantly respires ; and lastly as an orsan of
generation, which regularly dilates when the
desire of propagation begins; and within this
opening every animal possesses thase parts ne-
cessary for the continuance of their species.

When the time of coition approaches, they
gather together, pla.cing theniselves quite close
to each other ; and taking little or no nutri-
ment for several days. Having in this time
settled their bodies in that position for the
head and neck to be upright, they mutually
impres^nate es^ch other; the coupling of these
animals is generally thrice repeated, and that
at the distance of fifteen days.

At the expiration of eighteen days, from
the last coition, they produce their eggs, which
also come out of the above opening in the
neck; these they hide with great caution and
industry under tlie earth. Their eo^gs are
round, white, and covered with a soft shell;

they

294 NATURAL HISTORY

they produce them in very great numbers,
and they are stuck together by a kind of
slime, not in a thick bunch, but rather, as it
has been said, like a bunch of grapes. On
quitting the egg, the animal has a very small
shell on its back, with only one convolution;
this very soon enlarges, and the circles en-
crease v^ith the growth of the animal ; never
however exceeding four rounds and a half in
the garden snail, though there are sea snails
which sometimes have no less than ten. The
first circle remains in its original state, and
the animal always adds to the shell at the
mouth, which it encreases as it grows in size,
and until it is sufficiently large to contain its
whole body.

The snail is possessed not only of a power
of retreating into its shell, but of mending it
when broken. Sometimes these animals are
crushed seemingly to pieces, and, to all ap-
pearance utterly destroyed; yet still they set
themselves to work, and, in a few da3^s, mend
all their numerous breaches. The same sub-
stance by which the shell is originally made,
goes to the re-establishment of the ruined ha-
bitation. The shell thus mended has a
mottled appeamnce, all the new pieces being
much whiter than the old fabric.

The

OF BIRDS, FISH, &:c. 995

The snail is very voracious. It chiefly sub-
sists upon the leaves of plants and trees; but
is very delicate in its choice. At the approach
of winter, it buries itself in the earth, or re-
tires to some hole, to continue in a torpid
state, during the severity of the season. It is
sometimes seen alone; but more frequently in
company in its retreat; several being usually
found together, apparently deprived of life and
sensation. For the purposes of continuing in
greater warmth and security, the snail forms
a cover or lid to the mouth of its shell with its
slime, which stops it up entirely, and thus
protects it from every external danger. When
the cover is formed too thick, the snail then
breaks a little hole in it, which corrects the
eifect of that closeness, which proceeded from
too much caution. In this manner, sheltered
in its hole from the weather, defended in its
shell by a cover, it sleeps during the winter;
and, for six or seven months continues with-
out food or motion, until the genial call of
spring breaks its slumber, and excites its
activity.

The snail, having slept for so long a season,
awakes one of the first fine days in x'Vpril ;
breaks open its cell, and sallies forth to seek for
nourishment; and, unlike most other torpid

animals,

$9(5 NATURAL HISTORY

animals, comes out much thinner than when it
commenced its fast. At first, it is not very
difficult in the choice of its food ; almost any
vegetable that is green seems welcome; but
the succulent plants in the garden are chiefly
grateful; and the various kinds of pulse are,
at some seasons, almost wholly destroyed by
their numbers. A wet season is genemlly
favourable to their production; forthis animal
cannot bear very dry seasons or dry places, as
they cause too great a consumption of its
slime, without plenty of which it cannot sub-
sist in health and vigour.

Their method of proceeding from one place
to another is by means of that broad muscular
skin which comtnonly projects round the
mouth of the shell; this they put out as far
as they are able, and then, by a kind of con-
traction, draw the shell after; besides this they
liave a great advantage from the slime with
which they are so copiously furnished ; this
they constantly emit whenever they move, and
which not only smooths their way, but ena-
bles tbem also to ascend or descend trees in
search of food, of wherever their inclinations
direct them.

These are the most strikingparticularsin the
history of this animal; and which may serve as

a general

OF BIRDS, FISH, kc. Q97

a 'general picture to the manners and liabi*
tildes of the other tribes of this class. These
are, tli^ sea-snail, of which naturalists have,
from the apparent difference of their sliells,
mentioned fifteen kinds ; the fresh water snail,
of which there are eight kinds ; and the land-
snail, of which there are five. All these
bear a strong resemblance to the garden
snail in the formation of their shell, in their
hermaphrodite natures, in the slimy sub-
stance with wdiich they are so amply supplied,
and from which they derive so much assist-
ance, in the peculiar opening in tlie neck,'
and in the mode of propagating their spe-
cies.

But although possessed of these great re-
semblances, yet the ivater-simih, both river aiid
i-ea, are found in somethings to differ very
materially. In the first place, all snails which
live in water are furnished- by Nature with a
contrivance that enables them either to rise to
the surface, or sink to the bottom of the water ;
this is performed by opening and shutting the
orifice on the right side of the neck, which is
supplied with muscles for that purpose. The
snail sometimes gathers this aperture into an
oblong tube, and stretches it above the surface
of the water, in order to draw in, or expel the
vor.. IV. Q ({ water.

99S NATURAL HISTORY

water, as it finds occasion. By dilating this
it rises ; by compressing it the animal sinks
to the bottom. We may have a thorough
conception of this process by referring to little
glass images put in a tube of water, which are
made to rise or sink by pressing the air con-
tained at the mouth of the tube.

This striking difference between the fresh-
water and the garden snail, is not, however,
general in those of the sea kind; among
which there are some that are found vivipa-
rous, while others lay eggs in the usual
manner. But this is not the only difference .
between land and sea snails. They are, it is
true, all hermaphrodites; but still their na-
ture of coition is by no means the same, for
by the situation of the parts of generation the
one cannot be impregnated by that which is
empregnating, but a third is absolutely ne-
cessary, and Mr. Adanson says, he has seen
a vast number of sea-snails fastened together,
like a chain, impregnating each. Many of the
latter also entirely want horns, and none of
them have above two. Indeed, if the horns of
snails be furnished with eyes, and if, as some
are willing to think, the length of the horn,
like the tube of a telescope, assist vision, these
animals that chiefly reside in the gloomy bot-
tom

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 29^

torn of the deep, can have no great occasion
for them. Eyes would be unnecessary to
creatures whose food is usually concealed in
the darkest places ; and who, possessed of
very little motion, are obliged to grope for
what they subsist on. To such, eyes would
rather be an obstruction than an advantage ;
and perhaps even snails that live upon land,
are without them.

There is a difference also in the position of
the mouth, in the garden and the water-snail.
In the former, the mouth is placed cross wise,
as in quadrupeds ; furnished with jaw bones,
lips, and teeth. In most of the sea-snails, the
mouth is placed longitudinally in the head ;
and, in some, obliquely, or on one side.
Others, of the trochus kind, have no mouth
whatsoever ; but are furnished with a trunk,
very long in some kinds, but shorter in others.

But a more particular difference is the water-
snails being viviparous ; they not only bring
forth their young alive, but with their shells
upon their backs; which, strange as it may
appear, is nevertheless the fact ; and which
we have incontestibly proved by an experi-
ment of Swammerdam. He says, ** On the
" twelfth of March I began my observations
*' on this snail, and collected a great number
Q q 2 " of

300 NATURAL HISTOilY

*' of the kind, which I put into alai'ge bason
*.* filled with rain-water, and fed for «t long
** time with potter's earth, dissolved in the
" water about them. On the thirteenth of
"the same month I opened one of these
** snails, when I found nine living snails in
** its wom.b ; the largest of these were placed
** foremost, as the first candidates for ex-
** elusion. I put them into fresh water,
*^ and they lived to the eighteenth of the
" same month, moving and swimming, like
*' snails full grown ; nay, their manner of
'^ swimming was much more beautiful."

The trochuSy commonly considered of the
snail species, has no mouth whatever, but
simply a kind of trunk, which in proportion
to the size of the animal is very long ; this
trunk is fleshy, muscular, supple, and hollow ;
its extremity is bordered with a cartilage,
and toothed like a saw. These snails are a
predatory species, and are justly considered
among the shelly tribe, the same as the tiger,
eagle, and shark are to beasts, birds, and
fish. The whole race of shelled animals,
■with every possible means, endeavour to
avoid their approach, conscious, as it were,
that" whatever may be their size, their de-
struction is inevitable, as the strongest cover-
ing

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 301

ing is not proof against the power of this
rapacious enemy. The shell of the trochus
is very thick, and they are very clumsily
formed, yet they proceed with greater swift-
ness than almost any other shell-fish, seize
their prey with astonishing facility, and
scarcely ever suffer the object they once have
in pursuit to escape. The bulk of their in-
tended victim does not appear to be of the
smallest consequence, for they attack the
largest with the same boldness as they do
one of the most inferior size. Having once
closed on the shell, however thick, they al-
most instantaneously penetrate it with their
augre-like trunk. Thus fixed, all efforts to
escape on the part of the other is entirely
useless ; if it expand, and comes to the sur-
face, the trochus comes up also ; and if it
plunge to the bottom, the fell destroyer
still maintains its hold. In this manner it
will adhere, until with its trunk it has sucked
all the substance of the other fish, even for
days and weeks ; nor ever quit its prey until
it has so done, unless the other begin to
putrefy.

That ahnost the whole tribe of sbell-fish are
subject to the attacks of the trochus is fully
demonstrated by the fact, that there is

scarcelv

30^ natuhal history

scarcely ever a shell met with that is entirely
sound to the end of its convolutions. The
thinnest shells are found to be the most
penetrated, and this is readily to be ac-
counted for: they being the most easily
pierced, the predatory shell-fish, or the sea-
worms, chiefly seek them out for subsist-
ence; and thus it is that not one in a thousand
of the thin paper-like shells, however small,
is found that has not suffered some disaster.
The only chance these have of escaping is
in their lightness, sometimes enabling them
to outsail their heavy pursuers ; and this had
led most naturalists to conclude, (together
with the fact that the food of all snails
properly lays at bottom) that " when the
** thin-shelled fish are seen busily swim^
** ming at the surface, instead of sporting,
" or sunning themselves, as some have sup-
* * posed, they are actually labouring to escape
** their most dreadful pursuers/'

The iiaxitUus, of all the snail khid, has
the thinnest shell, and is the most frequently
seen swimming upon the surface ; but whether
it be at those times employed in seeking its
food, or endeavouring to escape its numerous
enemies, as above conjectured, we shall not
presume positively to decide; it is sufficient

to

OF BIRDS, FISH, &0. 303

to observe, that the latter is the most proba-
ble, as upon opening the stomach, it is found
to contain chiefly that food which it finds at-
the bottom.

This animal's industry may, therefore, be
owing to its fears; and all those arts of sail-
ing which it has taught mankind, may have
arisen from the effects of its own necessity.
Although there are several species of the nau-
tilus, yet they may be divided into two : the
one with a white shell, as thin as paper, which
it is often seen to quit, and again to resume ;
the other with a thicker shell, sometimes of a
beautiful mother-of-pearl colour, and which
quits its shell but rarely. This shell outwardly
resembles that of a large snail, but is generally
six or eight inches across : within, it is divided
into forty partitions that communicate with
each other by a kind of doors, through which
one could not thrust a goose-quill : almost the
whole internal part of the shell is filled by the
animal, the body of which, like its habitation,
is divided into as many parts as there are cham-
bers in its shell : all the parts of its body com-
municate with each other, through the doors
or openings, by a long blood-vessel, which runs
from the head to the tail ; thus the body of the
animal, if taken out of the shell, may be com-
pared

304 NATURAL HIStORY

pared to a number of soft bits of flesh, of which
there are forty threaded upon a string'. From
this extraordinary conformation, one would
not suppose that the nautilus sometimes quit-
ted its shell, and returned to it again ; yet,
nothing, however seemingly impossible, is
more certain. The manner by which it con-
trives to disengage every part of its body from
so intricate a habitation, by which it makes a
substance, in appearance as thick as one's
wrist, pass through forty doors, each of which
would scarcely admit a goose-quill, is not yet
discovered : but the fact is certain, for the ani-
mal is often found without its shell, and the
shell more frequently destitute of the ani-
mal. It is most probable, that it has a power
of making the substance of one section of its
body remove up into that which is next ; and
thus, by multiplied removals, it gets free.

But this, though very strange, is not
the peculiarity for which the nautilus has
been the most distinguished. Its " spread-
" ing the thin oar,'* and " catching the
** flying gale," to use the poet's description of
it, has chiefly excited human curiosity. These
animals, particularly those of the v/hite, light
kind, are chiefly found in the Mediterranean ;
and there are scarcely any who have sailed

on

•OF BIRDS, fISII, &C. 505

on Ihat sea, but must have often seen them;
AVhen the sea is calm, they arc observed tloat-
itigon the surface; some spreaduig their httle
sail ; some rowing with their feet, as if for hfe
and death ; and others still, floating upon their
mouths, hke a ship with the keel upwards. If
taken while thus employed, and examined,
the extraordinary mechanism of their limbs
for sailing will appear more manifest. The
nautilus is furnished with eight feet, which
issue near the mouth, and may as properly ha
called barbs : these are connected to each other
by a thin skin, like that between the toes of a
duck, but much thinner, and more trans-
parent. Of these eight feet thus connected >
six are short, and these are held up as sails
to catch the v^ind in sailing : tlie two others
are longer, and are kept in the water, serving,
like paddles, to steer their course by. When
the weather is quite calfti, and the animal
is pursued from beloXv, it is then seen ex-
panding only a part of its sail, and rowing
with the rest : whenever it is interrupted, oi*
fears danger from above, it instantly furls
the sail, (catches in all its oars, turns its
shell mouth downward, and instantly sinks
to the bottom. Sometimes also it is seen
pumping the w^ater from its leaking hulk ;
VOL. iv. R r and

S05 KATtJRAL HISTORY

and when unfit for sailing, deserts its shell
entirely. The forsaken hulk is seen floating
along, till it dashes, by a kind of shipwreck,
*ipon the rocks of the shore.

Such are the various manners in which the
nautilus is constantly seen exercising itself in
the Mediterranean sea ; and considering ihem
in every point of View, we feel ourselves in-
clined to join in opinion with those naturalists
who have concluded that the animal, by those
efforts, is endeavouring ta save itself from
tlie rapacity of its pursuers, rather than seek-
ing for food, or wantonly sporting on the
surface of its natui*al element. And this con-
clusion they have drawn from the certain fact,
that no animal of the sea has such a number
of deadly enemies ; arising principally, as we
before remarked, fmm the thinness of its
shell, which is scarcely ever found in perfect
preservation, but in general with some con-
spicuous marks of having been hostilely in-
vaded. The trochus, crab, sea-scorpion, sea-
worm, and a variety of other predatory
creatures that lurk at the bottom of the deep^
are its constant and invariable foes, and from
whom it has no chance of escaping but by
that comparative swiftness which it derives-
from its lightness, and those little arts above

referred

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 307

referred to, which have often been contem-
plated with equal pleasure and astonishment.

The whole tribe of the snail kind have mdre
to apprehend from their own species than is
the case with that of any other animal, for,
with scarcely an exception, they will attack
and destroy each other, and that too in pre-
ference to seeking any different kind ; the thin*
shelled and weak, fall a prey to the more
powerful, and those which are completely
covered with a shell, even though closed at
its mouth, find no security from the rapacity
of the trochus.

We now come to the hivahed sJiell-Jish, or
those of the oyster kind ; and which, in every
respect are much inferior to those we have just
described, whether considered as to their sen*-
nations, powers of motion, or in their systenji
of generation. In the latter there is a most
material difference, notwithstanding, that all
the animals of this class, as well as those of
the snail-kind, are hermaphrodite, but then
the latter require t}ie assistance of each other,
for the propagating their species, whereas
the bivalved tribe are completely endowed
with powers for that task, each in its indivi-
dual self, and totally independent of any other.
Their other diffejences will be sufficiently ap«-

p. r 2 parent

308 NATURAL HISTORY

parent as we proceed, and therefore lieed hot
be dwelt upon here.

The fresh-water muscle is generally placed
foremost in this race, as poss^ssmg the com-
mon-manners of the whole tribe, and being
the one which, not only Swanmierdam, bat
every other naturalist, found the most easy to
procure, and con equently the piost easy to
become acquainted with. •' " ■-' •

The muscle, whether belonging to fresh or
salt water, consists of two equal shells, joined
at the back by a strong muscular ligament,
that answers all the purposes of a hinge.
By the elastic contmction of this, the animal
can open its shells lU pleasure, about a quarter
of an inch from each other. The fish is fixed
to either shell by four tendons, by means of
which it shuts them close, and keeps its body
firm from being crushed by any shock against
the walls of its own habitation. It is fur-
nished,, like all other animals of this kind,
with vital organs, though these are situated
in a very extraordinary manner. It has a
mouth furnished with two fleshy lips ; its
intestine begins at the bottom of the mouth,
passes through the brain, and makes a num-
ber of circumvolutions through the liver;
pn leaving this organ, it goes on straight into

the

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 30^^

the heart which it penetrates, and ends in
the anus, near which the lunRs are placed,
and through which it breathes, like those of
the snail kind ; and in this manner its languid
circulation is carried on>

^Each muscle lias double organs of genera-
tion, namely, two ovaries to serve the pur-
poses of the female, and two seminal vessels
resembling what are commonly found in the
niale. Each ovary and each seminal vessel
has its own proper canal ; by the ovary canal
the eggs descend to the anus ; and there
also the seminal canals which send their fluids
to impregnate them. By this means Nature
has contrived to make one animal supply
the double purposes of generation, and that
which forms the egg, is capable of im-
pregnating it also. The ovaries usually
empty themselves of their eggs in spring,
and are replenished again in autumn ; a
matter that is pretty certain, since we gene-
rally find them empty in fummer and full
in winter. Their fecundity is astonishingly
great, and wherever any of this tribe breed,
they are sure to be found in almost innume-
rable quantities. And here again we meet with
that circumstance which frequently occurs in
animated nature ; that is, the more defence^

less

310 NATURAL HISTORY

less he animal, the more prolific it will be
found in its species, and that its enemies and
destroyers are always in proportion to the
numerous multiplication of its progeny. In the
present instance, there is not a predatory shell*
fish, but which is an avowed enemy to the bi-
Talved race, and more particularly of the
muscle ; all the various species of crabs, cray-
fish, &c. pursue and devour them with avidity;
but the trochus is their most formidable
enemy: thousands of their shells are found
entirely destitute of substance, and which
has evidently been drawn out by the tro-
chus, as in those cases a small hole is in-
variably to be perceived in some part of
the shells.

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 powxr
of redress. In order to guard against these,
which are to this animal the most common
and the most fatal accidents, although it has a
power of slow motion, yet it endeavours to
become: stationary, and- to attach itself to
any fixed object it happens to be near. For
this purpose it isfurnisl^ed with a verj^ singular

capacity

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 311

capacity of binding itself by a number of
threads to whatever object it approaches ;
and these Rheaumur supposes to be spun ar-
tificially, as spiders do their webs, which they
fasten against a wall. Of this, however, later
philosophers have found very great reason to
doubt. It is, therefore, supposed that these
tlireads, w-hich are usually called the beard
of the muscle, are the natural growth of the
animal's body, and by no means produced at
pleasure ; in which supposition they seem to-
have some warranty, from the great length to
which many of those beards arrive, far exceed-
ing that of the body itself ; and what is still
more, they always encrease with the growth of
the animal. But by whatever means the beard
may be produced, nothing is more certain thaji
the muscle makes use of it for the purpose of
attaching itself to some object ; and if a quan^
tity are thrown into a river where they cannot
meet with any rocky substance, they will even
twist their threads round each other, and large
bunches of them are often taken in that si-
tuation.

. Its instrument of motion, by which it con-
trives to reach the object it wants to bina itself
to, is that muscular substance resembling a-
tongue, which is found long in proportion to

the

312 NATURAL HISTORY

the size of the muscle. In some it is two
inches long, in others not a third part of those
dimensions. This the animal has a power of-
thrusting but of its shell; and with this it is
capable of making a slight furrow 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 propor-
tion as it goes forward, it reaches out its tongue,
%yhich answers for the purpose of an arm,
and thus carries the shell edgeways, as in
a grove, until it reach the point intended.
There, where it determines to keep 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 water.
Some of them contrive to fasten themselves by
several of these threads ; while others make
use of only three or four, which appear
scarcely able to retain it. Being once securely
fixed, the muscle lives upon the little earthy
particles : which the water washes over its
shells, and some authors suppose the httle
animalculae the water contains. lu this man-
ner there have been instances of their growing
to a foot in length. The beards have been
seen a foot and a half long ; and of this sub-
stance,.

OF BIRCS, FISH, &C. 3l5

Stance, the natives of Palermo sometimes make
gloves and stockings.

These shell-fish are found in lakes, rivers,
and in the sea. Those of the lake often grow
to a very large size; but they seem a solitary"
animal, and are found generall}^ separate from
each other. Those of rivers are not so large,
but yet in greater abundance ; but the sea mus-
cle is in most plenty. These are often bred ar-
tificially in salt-water marshes that are over-';
flowed by the tide; the fishermen throwing
them in at the proper seasons, and there be-
ing undisturbed by the agitations of the sea,
and not preyed upon by their powerful ene-
mies at the bottom, they cast their eggs, which
soon become perfect animals, and these are
generally found in clusters of several dozens
together. It requires a year for the peopling
a muscle-bed ; so that, if the number consistdi
of forty-thousand, a tenth part may annually
be left for the peopling the bed anew. Mus-
cles are taken from their beds from the month
of July to October.

The oysteT differs very little from the mus-
cle, except in the thickness of its shell, and in .
its greater imbecility. The oyster, like the
muscle, is formed with organs of life and res-
VOL. IV. S s piration.

314 NATURAli HtSTORY

piration, with intestines which are very vo-
luminous, a liver, lungs, and heart. Like the
muscle, it is self-impregnated; and the shell,
which the animal soon acquires, serves it for
its future habitation. Like the muscle, it
opens its shell to receive the influx of water,
and, like that animal, is strongly attached to
its shells both above and below.

Among the foremost of its differences, we
may^reckoOi that of the shape of the shells ;
tjiose of the muscle being equally bulged ahke,
whereas the oyster has one nearly, if not en-
tirely flat, the which is from necessity always
kept upwards, as the other serves to hold the
water requisite for its subsistence. The shells,
are also so thick and well lined, that, they ap-
pear perfectly well guarded against the attacks,
qf the predatory tribe, and even the trochus
will pass by them, in hopes of obtaining more:
easy prey. From tlieir being perfectly station-
ary, a number of small reptiles cling to their
shells, as tlie pipe and' little red worms, and
-where they live in perfect security. The oyster
is utterly unable to change its situation. It is
-entirely, without tiiat tongue which answers the-
pxirposeis of an arm in the muscle ; butnever-
cthelesa is often. attadied very firmly to any obr

ject

t>Y BIRDS, FISH, &C. 315

ject it happens to approach, whether rocks,
stones, pieces of timber, or sea- weeds ; nay, no-
thing is so common in the rivers of the tropical
chmates as to see oysters growing even amidst
the branches of the forest. Many trees which
grow along the banks of the stream, often bend
their branches into the water, and particularly
the mai^rove, which chiefly delights in a
moist situation . To these the oysters hang in
clusters, like apples upon the most fertile tree^
and in proportion as the weight of the fish sinks
the plant into the water, where it still conti-
nues growing, thie number of oysters encrease,
and hang upon the branches. This is effected
by means of a ^lue proper to themselves,
which, when it cements, the joining is as hard
as the shiell, and is asdilfieultly broken. Some-
times they attach then>selves to the rocks by a
kind of threads which grow out of their shell«.
Oysters usually cast their spawn in May,
which at first appears like drops of candle-
grease, and sticks to any hard substance it falls
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 market. As they
invariably remain in thie places where they are
\M, and as they grow without any other seem-
S s 2 ing

316 NATURAL HISTORY

ing food than the afflux of sea- water, it is the
custom at Colchester, and other parts of Eng-
land, where the tide settles in marshes on land,
to pick up great quantities of small oysters
along the shore, which when first gathered,
seldom exceed the size of a sixpence. These
are deposited in beds where the tide comes ifi,
and in two or three years gro>v to a tolemble
size. They are said to be better tasted for
being thus sheltered from the agitations of the
deep ; and a mixture of fresh water entering
into these repositories, is said to improve their
flavour, and to encrease their growth and
fatness.

The oysters however, which are prepared
in this manner, are by no means so large as
those found sticking to rocks at the bottom of
the sea, usually called rock-oysters. These are
sometimes found as broad as a plate, and are
admired by some as excellent food. But these
are trifling compared to the oysters of the East-
Indies, some of whose shells measure two feet
over! The oysters found along the coast of
Coromandel are capable of furnishing a plenti-
ful meal for eight or ten men ; but it seems
universally agreed that they are no way com-
parable to ours for delicacy or flavour.

Thus

bF BIRDS, risu, 8cc. 317

Thus the muscle and the oyster appear to
have but a few distinctions, except in their
shape, and the power of motion in the former.
Other bivalved shell-fish, such as the cockle,
the scallop y and the razor-shell, have differ-
ences equally minute. The power of chang-
ing place, which some of them effect in a man-
ner quite peculiar to themselves, makes their
greatest difference.

The scallop is particularly remarkable for its
methodof moving forward upon land, or swim-
ming upon the surface of the water. When
this animal finds itself deserted by the tide, it
makes very remarkable efforts to reguin the
water, moving towards the sea in a most sin-
gular 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 way
forward, and then renews the operation until
it has attained its journey's end. When in the
water it is capable of supporting itself upon
the surface ; and there opening and shutting
its shells, it tumbles over and over, and makes
its way with some celerity.

The pivot, pr razor-shell, has a very different
kind of motion. As the former moves labori-
ously

318 NJITUIUVL HISTORY

ously and slowly forward, so the razor-shell
has only a power of sinking point downward.
Th6 shells of this animal resemble nothing so
much as the haft of a razor ; and by this form
it is better enabled to dive into the soft sand at
the bottom. All the motions <5f this little
animal are confined to sinking or rising down-
wards or upwards in the sand, for it never
leaves the spot where first it was planted.
From tim€ to time it is seen to rise about half
way out of its hole ; but, if any way disturbed,
it sinks perpendicularly down again. Just
over the place where the razor buries itself,
there is a small hole Hke 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
who seek for them, and their method of en-
ticing the razor up from the depth of its re-
treat, is by sprinkling a little sea-salt upon the
hole ; this, melting, no sooner reaches the
razor below, than it instantly rises straight up-
wards, and shews about half its length above
the surface. This appearance, however, is in-
stantaneous ; and if the fisherman does not
seize the opportunity, the razor immediately
sinks, and buries itself at its former depth, nor
will any salt lure it up i^ain, but there it re-
mains

OF BIBJJS, Eisir, &c. SlD

tnains perfectly secure, unless its pursuer will
be at the trouble of digging it out of its re-
treat, which is frequently more than two feet
below the surface.

Such are the minute differences between bi-
talved fish : but in the great outlines of their
nature they exactly resemble each other. It is
particularly in this class of shell-fish that
pearls are found in greatest abundance ; they
are said, indeed, to be generated in aH sh€lls
whose insides are of a shining silvery sub-
stance, or what is commonly called mother-
of-pearl. It has been a matter of dispute
whether the pearl originated from accident, ojp
a disease in the animal, and many arguments
have been used to support the latter opinion j
but these have been so fully answered, as to
leave no doubt of the pearl being produced by
the same matter that goes to form the inner
part of the shell. This substance, which is
soft at first, quickly hardens, and thus, by
successive coats, layer over layer, the pearl
acquires its dimensions. If cut through it will
be found to consist of several coats, like an
onion rand sometimes a small speck is seen in
the middle, upon which the coats were origi-
naHy formed.

All

320 NATURA.L HISTORY

All oysters, and most shell-fish, are found
to contain pearls ; but that which particularly
obtains the name of the pearl oyster, has a
large strong whitish shell, wrinkled and rough
without, and within smooth and of a silver
colour. From these the mother of pearl is
taken, which is nothing more than the inter-
nal coats of the shell resembling the pearl in
colour and consistence.

This however is of very little value, com-
pared with the pearl itself, for the obtaining of
which there are several places called pearl fish*
eries, both in Asia and America ; but those
of the latter have of lateyears gone into disuse ;
and the principal one now in Asia is in the
PersianGulph,neartheisleofBahren;" where,"
says Goldsmith, " the wretched people thatare
** destined to fish for pearls, are either negroes,
" or some of the poorest of the natives of Persia.
** The divers are not only subject to the dan-
" gers of the deep, to tempests, to suffocation
" at the bottom, to being devoured by sharks,
*^ but from their profession universally labour
" under a spitting of blood, occasioned by the
" pressure of air upon their lungs in going down
*' to the bottom. The most robust and healthy
" young men are chosen for this employment,

** but

OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 321

** but they seldom sunive it five or six years.
'* Their libres become rigid ; their eye-balls
*' turn red ; and they usually die consumptive.
"It is amazing how long they are seen to
** continue at the bottom. Some, as we are
** assured, have been known to continue three
** quarters of an hour under water without
** breathing, and to one unused to diving, ten
" minutes would suffocate the strongest. They
** fish for pearls, or rather the oysters that con-
" tain them, in boats twenty-eight feet long ;
" and of these there are sometimes three or
** four hundred at a time, with each seven or
■*' eight stones, which serve for anchors. There
*' are from five to eight divers belonging to each,
*< that dive one after another. They are quite
*' naked, except that they have a net hanging
** down from the neck to put their oysters in,
** and gloves on their hands to defend them
* ' while they pick the oysters from the holes in
^* the rocks ; for in this manner alone can they
** be gathered. Every diver is sunk by means
" of a stone, weighing fifty pounds, tied to the
** rope by which he descends. He places his
** foot in a kind of stirrup, and laying hold of
" the rope with his left hand, with his right he
*' stops his nose to keep in his breath, as in
VOL. IV, T t ** going

329 NATURAL HISTORY

" going down he takes in a very long inspira-
" tion. When at the bottom, they give a signal
" to those in the boat to draw up the stone ;
*' whicli done, they go to work, filling their
" net as fast as they can ; and then giving an-
" other signal, the boats above pull up the net
^' loaded with oysters, and shortly after the di-
" ver himself, to take a new inspiration. All
^' the oysters are brought on shore, where they
** are laid in a great heap till the pearl fishery
" is over, which continues during the months
" of November and December."

The fishing-season being over, they then ex-
amine every oyster for the pearls, but they are
not always alike successful, for some seasons
turn out infinitely more advantageous than
others, not entirely arising from the numbers
they obtain, but from their value, which en-
creases not only in proportion to their size, but
also in their figure and colour ; some are found
of an oblong, others nearly round ; some
are white, others have a yellowish shade,
others are of a lead colour, and some are met
with, though very rarely, as black as jet.

END OF THE FOURTH VOLUx>;E.

jSquiro, Printer, Furuival's Inn Court.

N. C. State College

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