FISH IN GENERAL. 45 



In fresh waters, lakes, mountain streams, rivers, and marshes, 

 we meet with periodical visitants from the sea, and permanent 

 tribes who have but few representatives in salt water. Among 

 the first are sturiones, salmones, many percoides, atherinae, 

 and even pleuronectes, in the second series nearly the whole 

 cyprinoid and siluroid families, other salmones and esoces, 

 lobites, loricaria, petromyzons, &c. Some of these are des- 

 tined to reside in elevated lakes, others have the power of 

 ascending cataracts and waterfalls of a most formidable nature, 

 and there are species which can quit the water, and prowl 

 through meadows, passing from one pool to another without 

 hesitation. The facility of living in atmospheric air for many 

 hours, is indeed conspicuous in a small species of the Indian 

 ocean allied to our fishing frog or angler, it is chironectes 

 commersonii which runs about, and is even said to be sus- 

 ceptible of some kind of education. Air is indeed necessary 

 perhaps to every kind of fish, and particularly when the 

 atmosphere is warm, most of our lacustrine species sport on 

 the surface for no other purpose. But in high latitudes the 

 fresh water species have almost invariably a power of sur- 

 viving exclusion from air when accompanied with cold, such 

 as occurs periodically, when ice covers the waters, and 

 gradually increases, till in some places the fish are nearly 

 or entirely inclosed in it. When the frost sets in they at first 

 decline the bait, and come to air holes cut in the ice, but 

 rarely ; as the cold increases, it is found useless to attempt to 

 fish ; for they sink in the deepest water, and become torpid 

 until the approach of spring, when they are again eager to 

 bite at air holes, cut for that purpose. In the St. Lawrence, 

 however, which is seldom without some natural openings 



gent Provencal fisherman, who spent his youth on the Mediterranean, and 

 for many years of his after life was settled between Old Harbour and Port 

 Royal, Jamaica ; one who was thoroughly acquainted with the whole fishing 

 and trading concerns along the Spanish main, and the Islands. C. H. S. 



