262 



THE NATURAL HISTORY 



[LETT. 



LETTER XCVIII. 1 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARBINGTON. 



WHEN I happen to visit a family where gold and silver fishes 

 are kept in a glass bowl, I am always pleased with the occurrence, 

 because it offers me an opportunity of observing the actions and 

 propensities of those beings with whom I 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 vivarium, to which I 

 paid no small attention, taking every occasion to remark what 

 passed within its narrow limits. It was here that I first ob- 

 served 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 muscular back 

 preponderates by its own gravity, and turns the belly upper- 

 most, as lighter from its being a cavity, and because it contains 

 the swimming-bladders, 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 supplied by 

 the water ; because, though they seem to eat nothing, yet the 

 consequences of eating often drop from them, That they are best 



1 First published in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1786, under the 

 signature V. 



