GOLD AND SILVER FISHES. 



LETTER XCVIII. 

 TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR, 



WHEN I happen to visit a family where gold 

 and silver fishes are kept in a glass bowl, I am al- 

 ways pleased with the occurrence, because it offers 

 me an opportunity of observing the actions and pro- 

 pensities of those beings, with whom we can be little 

 acquainted in their natural state. Not long since, 

 I spent a fortnight at the house of a friend, where 

 there was such a vivary, to which I paid no small 

 attention, taking every occasion to remark what 

 passed within its narrow limits. It was here that I 

 first observed the manner in which fishes die. As 

 soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks lower 

 and lower, and it stands, as it were, on its head; 

 till, getting weaker, and losing all poise, the tail 

 turns over, and, at last, it floats on the surface of 

 the water, with its belly uppermost. The reason 

 why fishes, when dead, swim in that manner, is very 

 obvious ; because, when the body is no longer 

 balanced by the fins of the belly, the broad muscu- 

 lar back preponderates by its own gravity, and turns 

 the belly uppermost, as lighter, from its being a 

 cavity, and because it contains the swimming blad- 

 ders, which contribute to render it buoyant. Some 

 that delight in gold and silver fishes, have adopted 

 a notion that they need no aliment. True it is, 

 that they will subsist for a long time without any 

 apparent food but what they can collect from pure 

 water frequently changed ; yet they must draw some 

 support from animalcula, and other nourishment 



