FISHES. 222 
husband now enters, and gliding backwards and forwards over 
the eggs impregnates them; if he considers that there is not a 
prospect of a sufficient number of little tittlebats, he goes in quest 
of a second lady, and compels her to go through the same process. 
If now satisfied with the prospect of his family, he closes one end 
of his nest, and places himself above the other orifice, where, as a 
sentinel, he guards his treasure from any passing marauder. 
Pellicier, Bishop of Montpellier, some time since, found that 
the Godzes and the Sea-horses also construct nests for the reception 
of their eggs. 
Certain kinds of fish are not able to spawn in salt water, 
therefore they leave the sea, and run up the streams, where they 
THE FLYING HORSE. 
(Pegasus volans.) 
deposit their eggs. The most noted of this class are the Surgeons, 
which leave the Caspian and Black Seas, which they inhabit in vast 
shoals, and ascend the Danube and the Volga, and other rivers 
which flow into them. 
The Skhad-fish, whose flesh is not esteemed when it is in the 
sea, is considered a delicacy when caught in the fresh water which 
it periodically enters to spawn. 
The most prized of these emigrating fish, however, is the 
Salmon. The firm consistence of its flesh, its fine flavour, and its 
rosy colour, make it preferred for the table perhaps more than any 
other fish. The salmon seems to have the same instinct as the 
storks and swallows; it returns year after year to the same river. 
Some salmon were taken near Brest, and copper rings thrust 
through the membrane of their tails; by this means they could 
be recognised, and it was found they regularly returned each year. 
The fecundity of fish is marvellous, and were it not that a 
