160 HISTORY OF FISH. 



tllaglnous kinds, orthofe who have griftles inftead of 

 bones. But the fierce unmindful tribe we have been 

 defcribing, that leave their fpawn without any pro- 

 teftion, are called thefpinous, or bony kinds, from 

 their bones refembling the iharpnefs of thorns. 



Thus there are three grand divifions in the fifli 

 kind : the cetaceous the cartilaginous, and the fpi- 

 nous ; all differing from each other in their confor- 

 mation, their appetites, in their bringing forth, and 

 in the care of their young. Thefe three great dif- 

 tindtions are not the capricious difference formed 

 by a maker of fyftems, but are ftrongly and firmly 

 marked in nature. Thefe are the diftinctions of 

 Ariftotle ; and they have been adopted by mankind 

 ever fince his time. 



As on land there are fome orders of animals that 

 feem formed to command the reft, with greater 

 powers and more various inftincls, fo in the ocean 

 there are fillies which feem formed upon a nobler 

 plan than others, and that, to their fifhy form, join 

 the appetites and the conformation of quadrupeds* 

 Thefe all are of the cetaceous kind^ which are raifed 

 as many degrees above other fifhes in their nature, as 

 they are in general in their fize. This tribe is com- 

 pofed of the whale, and its varieties, of the cachalot, 

 the dolphin, the grampus, and the porpus. Thefe 

 fifh never produce above one young, or two at the 

 inoft, at a time ; and this the female fuckles entirely 

 in the manner of quadrupeds ; her breads being 

 placed, as in the human kind, above the navel. 



It is not only upon land that man hath exerted 

 his power of deflroyirig the larger tribes of quadru- 

 peds ; he hath extended his efforts even in the 

 midft of the ocean ; and hath cut off numbers of 

 thofe enormous animals that had poflibly exifted for 

 ages. We now no longer hear of whales from 200 

 to 250 feet long, which were often feen about two 

 centuries ago. They have all been deftroyed by the 

 ikill of mankind, an: he fpecies is now dwindled 



into 



