54 otiths-generatit?iofJi'/Zes. Sept'. ig; 



■buried themselves in that earth as the water gradvvA— 

 ly wasted away, where tliey remained concealed till' 

 the return of water brought them from their lurking 

 places. It is well known, that, in Europe, eels have 

 been 'known to exist a considerable time in stiff 

 mud, where no water was to be perceived : and 

 there is a sea fifh of the fliark tribe, often caught 

 by the natives of the western isles of Scotland, there 

 ■called B/tiid hive, which has the power of existing 

 for a long while without any water. It is a very 

 common piactice to carry these filli home alive, 

 and put them in a corner of the house where peat for 

 iuel IS kept, and in which place there is usually a 

 large heap of loose dry peat earth, thathas crumbled 

 down in time, which they call pe»t drofs. , Into this 

 place they throw the liih, which bury themselves in 

 the drofs, and there continue alive till the family 

 have occasion to use them as food, when they are 

 gradually trken out as wanted, and drefsed for table. 

 These fiili I myself actually saw alive in that situa- 

 tion in the house of. John Cvmpbell, esq; of Jura; 

 I was told they would thus live for several months. 

 O'iiers have supposed that there may be some animal 

 of the fjfh kind, capable of existing for a long period 

 ol suspended animation, in certain circumstances, si- 

 milar to what we know does actually happen with 

 the beaver, marmotte, and some other ten-estrial ani- 

 mals in Europe, If so, these aniiirals, they think, 

 might remain torpid during the dry season ii 

 India, as our animals do during the ro/rf season in Eu- 

 rope ; and being endowed with a similar instinct, 

 ihey might prepare for the change by burying clietn- 



