Ixxvi EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



dire£lion, torrents of water, and of melted ices, into the 

 Ocean, to which it fupplies new fources. The Ocean then 

 changes it's courfe ; it draws into it's general Current moft 

 of the fifties of the North toward the South ; and by it's la- 

 teral counter-currents, thofe of the South toward the North. 

 It attra£ls others even from the Continent, by the alluvions 

 of the land, which the rivers difcharge : fuch are the fifties 

 with fcales, as falmon, which love, in general, to make 

 their way upward ?gainft the courfe of rivers, 



Thefe floating legions are attended by innumerable co- 

 horts of fea-fowls, which quit their natural climates, and 

 hover around the fifties, to live at their expenfe. It is then 

 that we find the fea-fowls of the South flocking to the ftiores 

 of the North, as the pelican, the flamingo, the heron, the 

 ftork: and thofe of the North finding their way to the South, 

 as the lomb, the burgomaller, the cormorant. It is then 

 that fands and ftiallows the mofi: deferted, are crouded with 

 inhabitants, and that Nature prefents new harmonies on 

 every ftiore. 



If the voyages of the inhabitants of the Seas would have 

 diffufed new light on the Currents of the Ocean, thefe fame 

 Currents would have furniftied us with new light refpe£ling 

 the form.s and manners of fifties, which have to us fuch an 

 imcouth appearance. Moft of thefe fifties caft their fpawn 

 in fuch abundance, that the Sea is frequently covered by 

 it for feveral leagues together. The Currents carry off 

 this fpawn to prodigious diftances, and while the fathers and 

 mothers unconcernedly indulge in the dalliance of love, on 

 the coafts of Norway, their fry are hatching on thofe of 

 Africa or Brafil. 



' We 



