INTRODUCTION. 15 



habitants of the Air ; others range around the 

 Fields, or crawl upon the Ground : Thoulands 

 refide in the inmoft RecefTes of Woods, in the 

 Hearts of Leaves, and under the Bark of Trees : 

 Some in the Chinks and Crevices of Walls; and 

 others in the moll gloomy Caverns. The very 

 Bowels of the Earth are hollowed, and filled 

 with Inhabitants. All thefe Animals, how diffe- 

 rent foever from each other, with refped to their 

 Nature and Way of Life, enjoy one Benefit 

 in common : They all breathe the fluid Air. 

 But we have, at prefent, another Element 

 under our Confideration, wherein all of them 

 are ftifled as foon as they are plunged into it. 

 Yet we therein difcover a vafl Variety of Be- 

 ings •, and obferve, that as Terrell ial Ani- 

 mals are fuflbcated in the Waves ; fo the In- 

 habitants of the watry Regions foon expire in 

 the Air, and cannot long fubfift out of that 

 Element, to which they are configned. 



But it is hard to comprehend how their 

 Blood fhould circulate with that Freedom, 

 which it indifputably does ; for one would 

 think it fhould coagulate and condenfe by the 

 excefTive Chilnefs of the Waters. Such Ani- 

 mals as live upon the Earth, are either fur- 

 nifhed with Feathers, and a delicate Down, or 

 invefted with warm Furs, or long Hairs, to 

 defend them from the Inclemencies of the Air, 

 which is fometimes exceedingly cold : But no 

 Fifh, as we can find, have any fuch agreeable 

 Accommodations. How then has Nature 

 provided for them, that they are able to fub- 



