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receive from the water, or rather from the fmall particles in it, whicli 

 are by us commonly confiderecl as part of the water only ; in fuch a 

 fituation indeed, they increafe little or nothing in fize, but rather, if 

 they were before fat and plump, they will fall away. 



I amalfo perfiiadcd, that all Filhcs which have a conftant fupply 

 of food, do daily increafe in lize, and this without ever ceafing to 

 o-row, fo that any real definite fize cannot be afllgned to them, as 

 it can to terrellrial animals, fome of which arrive fooner, and others 

 later, to their full and perfe6l flature, which they never afterwards 

 exceed, altliough they continue to hve many years. The reafon of 

 which, I am convinced is this, that terreftrial animals continue grow- 

 ing as long as their nutritive juices have force fufficient to protrude or 

 thrult thenifelves through the cavities of the bones, and fo to increafe 

 the fize of them, as well in length as in thicknefs. But when the 

 bones of thefe animals, by being expofcd to the air, are become fo 

 rigid and hard, that they cannot be any more difcended, their far- 

 ther growth mufl necefi'arily ceafe, and any frefli fupplies of nutri- 

 tive juices can only tend to increafe the animal's fatnefs. But the 

 bones of Fiflies are for the moll part dellitute of marrow, and they 

 cannot be rendered rigid by expofure to the air, confequently the 

 very fmall tubuli or pipes of which they are compofed, are exceed- 

 ingly foft in comparifon with thofe of other animals. All which con- 

 lidered, there leems no reafon to exift, why the bones of Fiflies 

 fliould not continue always growing, i'o long as the animals do not 

 want for food. 



In the lakes with us, where are many Fiflieries, Pike have been 

 caught of the lengtli of 56 inches, and 36 or 38 pounds weight. 

 Pearch alfo 28 inches long ; and who can tell to what fize thefe 

 Fidies might have arrived, if they could have longer efcaped the 

 nets ? 



