OF SELBORNE. 297 
LETTER lL. 
Dear Sir,—Wnhen [ happen to visit a family 
where Gop and Stiver Fisues are kept in a glass 
bowl, I am always pleased with the occurrence, be- 
cause it offers me an opportunity of observing the 
actions and propensities of those beings with whom 
we can be little acquainted in their natural state. 
Not long since I spent a fortnight at the house of a 
friend where there was such a vivary, to which I 
paid no small attention, taking every occasion to 
remark what passed within its narrow limits. It 
was here that I first observed the manner in which 
fishes die. As soon as the creature sickens, the 
head sinks lower and lower, and it stands, as it 
were, on its head, till, getting weaker and losing 
all poise, the tail turns over, and at last it floats on 
the surface of the water with its belly uppermost. 
The reason why fishes, when dead, swim in that 
manner is very obvious ; because, when the body 
is no longer balanced by the fins of the belly, the 
broad muscular back predominates by its own 
