78 DESCRIPTION of the 



called the bay-aleivife (clupea nondefcripfa) arrives in very 

 confiderable flioals, and in Ibme feafons their number is 

 almoft incredible. They are fully of the fize of a large 

 herring, and are principally diftinguifhed from the her- 

 ring, by a bay or red fpot above the gill-fin. (fee the 

 drawing) They are, when caught from March to May, 

 full-roed and fat, and are at leaft as good a fifli for the 

 table as the hemng. 



In this feafon, each of thefe alew^ives carries in her 

 mouth an infed:, about two inches long, hanging with 

 its back downwards, and firmly holding itfelf by its 14 

 legs to the palate. The fifhermen call this infedt the loufc. 

 It is with difficulty that it can be feparated, and perhaps 

 never without injury to the jaws of the fifh. The fifher- 

 men therefore confider the infedt as eflential to the life of 

 the fifh ; for when it is taken out, and the filh is thrown 

 again into the water, he is incapable of fwimming, and 

 foon dies. I endeavoured in numerous inftances to pre- 

 ferve botli the infe£l and the fifli from injury, but was 

 always obliged either to deftroy the one, or to injure 

 the other. I have fometimes fucceeded in taking out the 

 infeiTc in a brifk and lively ft;ate. As foon as he was fet 

 free from my grafp, he immediately fcrambled nimbly 

 back into the mouth of the fifh, and refumed his pofition. 

 In every infiance he was difguftingly corpulent, and un- 

 pleafant to handle ; and it feemed, that whether he have 

 obtained his poll, by force, or by favor, whether he be a 

 mere traveller, or a conftant refident, or what elfe may 

 be his bufinefs where he is found ; he certainly has a fai 

 place of it, and fares fumptuoufly every day. 



The drawings annexed to this account were made 

 from the live infeft, and from the fifh out of whofe 

 mouth he was taken. I had no books to refer to, then ; 

 but examining the Syftema Naturse of Linna^tis, I was 

 furprizcd to find fo exacSt a defcription of the infe£t as 



follows 



