INDEX. 



vessel; all fishes covered with a slimy, glutinous matter, 

 that defends their bodies from the immediate contact of the 

 surrounding fluid ; they fall behind terrestrial animals in 

 their sensations ; their sense of touching and smelling ; their 

 sense of tasting; hearing is found still more imperfect, if 

 found at all ; M. Gouan's experiment to this purpose ; from 

 it is learned they are as deaf as mute ; their sense of seeing ; 

 their brain ; their rapacity insatiable ; when out of the wa- 

 ter, and almost expiring, they greedily swallow the bait by 

 which they are allured to destruction ; the maw placed next 

 the mouth ; and though possessed of no sensible heat, is en- 

 dued with a faculty of digestion, contrary to the system that 

 the heat of the stomach is alone sufficient for digestion ; 

 though for ever prowling, can suffer want of food very long ; 

 instances of it, v. 1, &c. Life of a fish but one scene of hos- 

 tility, violence, and evasion ; the causes of annual migra- 

 tions; all stand in need of air for support; those of the whale 

 kind come to the surface of the sea every two or three mi- 

 nutes, to breathe fresh air ; experiment of a carp in a large 

 vase of water, placed under an air-pump ; general method 

 of explaining respiration in fishes, the description and uses 

 of their air-bladder; full play of the gills prevented, or the 

 bony covers kept from moving, the animal would fall into 

 convulsions, and die ; some fishes have no air-bladder ; can 

 live but a few minutes without air ; Bacon's observations 

 upon their growth and age ; two methods for determining 

 the age of fishes, more ingenious than certain ; a carp found 

 to be a hundred years old ; the discovery confirmed by au- 

 thors ; longevity of these animals, nothing compared to their 

 fecundity; some multiply by millions; some bring forth 

 their young alive, and some produce eggs : the former ra- 

 ther the least fruitful : the viviparous blenny brings forth 

 two or three hundred at a time, all alive and playing to- 

 gether round the parent, 12. The flesh of fishes ; question 

 to the learned concerning the flesh of fishes, 26. Cetaceous 

 fishes, ib. Cartilaginous fishes, 61. Spinous fishes, 113. 

 M. Gouan's system of spinous fishes, 115. All fish of the 

 same kind have the same number of bones ; the small, 

 lean, and with many fins, the most bony ; vulgar expres- 

 sion that fishes at some seasons are more bony than at 

 others, scarce deserves contradiction ; none imbibe the sea- 

 saltness with their food, or in respiration : whence then 

 do some fishes live there, and quickly expire in fresh water; 

 some fish, as the eel, descend the fresh water stream to bring 

 forth their young in the sea ; in what season ; long voyages 

 undertaken by some tribes that constantly reside in the 

 ocean, and may be called fish of passage ; stated returns and 

 regular progress of these fish of passage, the most extra- 

 ordinary circumstances in the history of nature ; names of 



