31 



Tlic Sliarks arc even more voracious. The stomacli of one only 

 six feet in lenf^tli contained a Gui-narcl, a Conf^er, and a large 

 Doo-fish. Another contained a Garfish, four Mackerel, and as 

 mauA^ uninjured Herrings as sold, even on the shore, for eighteen 

 pence. Blumenbach writes of one which swallowed a Horse 

 entire. There was exhibited at the farther end of this aquariiun 

 a case containing stuffed specimens of two Pike of nearly equal 

 size, which had perished in the endeavour made by the larger to 

 swallow the somewhat smaller. The teeth of fish being generally 

 directed backwards, render disgorging difficult, and, where the 

 fish swallowed is large, impossible. 



But all these instances of voracity fall far short of the case I 

 now bring under your notice. 



I have had a representation drawn to scale of a specimen of a 

 fish in the British Museum, where it may be seen preserved in 

 spirits, which has swallowed and actually forced into its stomach 

 another fish three or four times as large as itself. 



The fish Avas captured in the West Indies, near Dominica, 

 where it is well knofl-n, it belongs to the same family as our own 

 voracious Cod. It is named by naturalists Chiasmodus Niger^ 

 Dr. Giinther is not quite certain of the name of the fish swallowed, 

 but thinks it Scopelus Macrolepidotus. This very hearty meal 

 proved the destruction of the specimen figured. The species is 

 ])robably an inhabitant of the deep sea, having been captured at a 

 depth of 312 fathoms, where, after a moderately heai'ty meal, it 

 can remain in quiet and calml}' digest his food below the dis- 

 turbing influence of the waves ; but in the present instance, 

 having swallowed a fish of perhaps a less specific gravity than its 

 own, it was quite unable to keep itself below the surface, on which 

 it was found alive, but hopelessly gorged and incapable of escaping. 



There are now living in the aquarium nearly fifty species of 

 fish, all in excellent health, and many have increased very much 

 in size. These high organisms might have been expected, seeing 

 .also the qua"ntity of food they have consumed, to have made the 

 water impure and turbid, but such is not the case ; it is perfectly 

 transparent, and you will observe no sediment at the bottom of 

 the tanks, and I am told by Mr. Lloyd that there is almost none, 

 even in the large tank underneath, which supplies the water for 

 circulation. Notwithstanding more than a ton of food has been 

 given to the creatures, the products of decomposition have been 

 all dissipated by aeration and only pure sea water remains. 



