THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



briefly touched upon. We rather aim at giving some 

 account of the structure of the fishes, and at noting 

 such peculiarities in their habits and life as may 

 prove most interesting to our readers. Primarily, 

 then, we find that fishes may be recognized by hav- 

 ing the body usually, but not always, covered with 

 scales, of various forms and kinds. Then, secondly, 

 we have the limbs represented by certain fins; and, 

 thirdly, we find almost all fishes to breathe by gills 

 during the whole of life. These three points are, 

 in the main, sufficient to distinguish fishes from their 

 higher as well as their lower neighbors. The scales 

 which cover the bodies of fishes present great di- 

 versities in shape, size, and appearance. Some fishes 

 thus exhibit an utter want of scales; while others, 

 like knights of old, are incased in a veritable suit of 

 scaly armor. The lampreys, and their curious neigh- 

 bors the hag-fishes, are destitute of scales; and in our 

 familiar eels, the scales are very small and insig- 

 nificant. Such fishes, however, are amply compen- 

 sated for the want of scales by the power they pos- 

 sess of throwing out from the skin a vast quantity of 

 glutinous or oily matter, technically named mucus. 

 The presence of this secretion, which has given origin 

 to the phrase "as slippery as an eel," serves to pro- 

 tect the surface of the body, and no doubt also assists 

 in the easy progress of these fishes through the water. 

 So large is the quantity of this oily matter which the 

 hag-fishes can emit from their body, that one form 

 has received the specific name of glutinosa; the fish 

 being able in this way to literally convert the water 

 of the vessel in which it is contained into a jelly- 



