NATURAL HISTORY. 



FISHES. 



The Class of Fishes possesses a greater number 

 of known species than any other of the primary 

 divisions of Vertebrate animals ; perhaps, in- 

 deed, when we consider the ratio which water 

 bears to land on the surface of our globe, and 

 the peculiar difficulties which attend the study 

 of these animals, it may not be extravagant to 

 suppose that the species of Fishes exceed in 

 number those of Mammalia, Birds, and Reptiles 

 put together. The number of individuals, also, 

 composing the different species, in general, much 

 exceeds the average as found in the other Classes, 

 arising as well from the extent and depth of 

 the element which they inhabit, as from their 

 astonishing fecundity. The eggs of a bird are 

 reckoned numerous when they amount to a score, 

 but the eggs of fishes are commonly counted by 

 thousands, and in some cases even Ky millions ! 

 In the ovary of a Cod, nine million eggs have 

 been ascertained to exist, and Mr. Jesse asserts 

 that " the ovary of one female Salmon will pro- 

 duce twenty million eggs." When we add that 

 fishes yield an immense quantity of agreeable 



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