58 INTRODUCTION. 



THE NATURAL HABITAT OF FISHES 



will next claim our attention. — As the earth 

 is the natural inheritance of mammiferous ani- 

 mals, of birds, and of reptiles, — so that of fishes 

 alone, of all the vertebrated tribes, is in the wa- 

 ter; and as in the extent of their dominions they 

 far sui'pass terrestrial animals, so, in the anti- 

 quity of their possession, and in the uninterrupted 

 tenure by which they have held it from the begin- 

 ning of time, they are still our superiors. While 

 yet " the fowl that flies above the earth," and " the 

 cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth," 

 were uncreated, the waters had brought forth abun- 

 dantly, and every living denizen of the seas and 

 rivers existed; and when, subsequently, " the 

 waters prevailed upon the earth," and " all flesh 

 died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and 

 of cattle, and of beast, and of creeping thing that 

 creepeth upon the earth, and every man," the 

 aquatic tribes were still unscathed in this their 

 native element, and continued to take their pastime 

 therein. 



Among the vertebrated animals, fishes alone, 

 with the exception of the immature young of cer- 

 tain reptiles, can be said, with strict propriety, to 



