and the Grey Mullet of the British Coast, 135 



instantly inflated into the most perfect bladder — bent behind 

 and extended forwards in two lobes, having an oblong horse- 

 shoe form* it io fnuiiuiid baa f/rioi oili in h.'ihjj.- 



Being one of those fishes which are said to be destitute of 

 the swimming bladder, I forwarded it, with the viscus inflated, 

 for the inspection of Mr. Bennett, of the Zoological Society ; 

 he stated his belief, that it was the urinary bladder, which is 

 represented by M. Cuvier, in his present work, as very large 

 in this fish. This opinion may be correct,--it certainly comes 

 from the best authorities, but the viscus appeared to me to be 

 destitute of all the analogies of such a viscus, — and possesses 

 all those of a swimming bladder ; it is extremely thin and 

 transparent, and attached by cords, as before observed, to the 

 cervical vertebrcB, or at the gills, — a situation where I have 

 constantly observed such attachment of the air-bladder ; but in 

 no instance have seen a urinary bladder so connected. It is 

 true, having no idea of this sort in mind, it did not occur to 

 me to search for urethra or ureters ; but, had such existed, 

 they would probably have been detected in blowing up this 

 receptacle* 



An elderly person at Billingsgate, a few days since, observ- 

 ing me busied in examining the viscera of certain fishes, wished 

 to know what the object was ; I told him it was to learn the 

 internal structure, — of the intestine stomach, &c. ; and the 

 air-bladder — this he said, although every one had it, yet I 

 should not find it in all ; for, in some fishes, it is so thin and 

 tender, as to break when the fish is caught. 



This was a person having no affectation of science^ but of 

 long practical observation, which is infinitely better, and who 

 has been employed either in fishing, or at Billingsgate market, 

 for upwards of twenty years past. He further added (and I 

 thought it a shrewd remark, whether it be exactly true or not), 

 that in such fishes, as soon as taken out of the water, the air 

 rushes in, and causes the bladder to burst. The poor know- 

 ledge possessed by physiologists on this point will, I presume, 

 hardly justify a contradiction of this simple statement of the 

 fisherman. 



It appears to me, that, in the cetacese or aquatic mammalia, 

 this organ is supplied by the peculiar structure and magnitude 



