FISUES. 209 



and weaker animals of their own class. One of our justly 

 populai- poets has said : — 



"Even tiger fell, and sullen bear, 

 Their likeness and their lineage spare ; 

 Man only mars kind Nature's plan, 

 And turns tlie fierce pursuit on man." 



RoKEBY, canto ill. stanza 1. 



Such a remark is altogether inapplicable to the voracious 

 tribes of which we at present treat, and we would refer to it 

 here only to show how much more completely " kind Nature's 

 plan" is carried out by the present arrangement. As it is, 

 "the multitudinous seas" are peopled with their finny tribes ; 

 and we cannot doubt that the exercise of their various powers 

 in the pursuit of prey, the escape from danger, and all else 

 that is essential to their well-being, is fraught with happiness. 

 They have no apprehension of death ; and when it does come 

 by the jaws of a more powerful assailant, the pain is brief and 

 transient. The pleasui-e has extended throughout the dura- 

 tion of life ; the final pang endures but for a moment. Great, 

 therefore, in the aggregate, is the amount of happiness secured 

 under these wise and bountiful dispensations of Providence. 

 Did fishes not constitute the food of fishes, how few compara- 

 tively could exist! The naturalist consequently beholds, in all 

 the havoc and destruction of life by carnivorous animals, a 

 merciful dispensation, and is prepared to give his assent to 

 the reflections of the poet : — 



" Harsh seems the ordinance, that life by life 

 Should be sustained ; and yet when all must die, 

 And lie like water spilt upon the ground, 

 Which none can gather up, the speediest fate, 

 Though violent and terrible, is best. 



"Twas wisdom, mercy, goodness, that ordained 

 Life in such infinite profusion. — Death 

 So sure, so prompt, so multiform." 



SIoxtgosiert's " Peucan Island." 



To those who have never considered the omnivorous appe- 

 tite of fishes, the examination of the stomach of a few of 

 those which are most commonly used as food, ^^•ill furnish very 

 sufficient evidence of their habits. Perhaps the fact cannot 

 be better exemplified than by quoting a passage from a 



