FISHES. 



315 



deformed, wliile others are very paragons of elegance 

 and beauty. Many fishes, indeed, are adorned W the 

 hand of Nature with every kind of embellishment — 

 variety in their forms, elegance in their proportions, 

 diversity and vivacity in their colours ; nothing is 

 wanting to attract the attention of mankind. The 

 splendour of every metal, the blaze of every gem, 

 glitter upon their surface ; iridescent colours, break- 

 ing and reflecting in bands, in spots, in angles, or in 

 undulating lines always regular or symmetrical, 

 graduating or contrasting with admirable effect and 

 harmony, flash over their sides : for whom have they 

 received such gifts, they who at most can barely per- 

 ceive each other in the twilight of the deep, and 

 even if they could see distinctly, what species of 

 pleasure can they derive from such combinations ? 



The teeth of fishes are very numerous, and are 

 attached to almost every one of the bones that enter 

 into the composition of the mouth. They are 

 generally simple spines, curved backwards ; but in- 

 numerable modifications of structure occur. Thus 

 the teeth of the deadly Shark are flat and lancet-hke, 

 the cutting edges being notched like a saw; the 

 front teeth of the Flounder are compressed plates ; 

 some, as the Wrasse, have flat grinding teeth, and 



Fig. 244.— skeleton of haddock. 



others, as the genus Chrysophrys, have convex teeth, 

 so numerous and so closely packed over a broad 

 surface, as to resemble the paving-stones of a street. 



p 2 



