Chut. xxm. Fish Begaming (ht Water. 289 



growing water-liliea in it; by having a fountain playing in it, 

 which is very easily arranged ; by blowing into it with a bellows 

 bom time to time; or even by taking up some of the water in a 

 tumbler, and pouring it in again from a height. 



If you turn a tish belly upwards, he loses his power in the 

 water. It is like putting salt on a bird's tail, hut natives can 

 do it. 



lias it never surprised the angler that he seldom ratches a lish 

 with a single scale wanting in its whole coat, though those scales 

 come oil' all too readily in his hands. It is because scales are 

 renewed like feathers; and it is believed that a salmon exfoliates 

 its whole coat of scales every year, in the same way as a bud 

 moults, and that this is the reason why a foul salmon looks so dull 

 and dirty with its skin minus scales ; while a clean run salmon is 

 resplendent with a brand new set of silvery scales. 



Fish have a marked line, somewhat like a pencil mark, on each 

 side. This is called the lateral line, and its position and course is 

 very carefully noted by naturalists. It is formed by minute 

 perforations in each scale, and it is supposed by some that its use 

 is to allow of the exuding of the slime, or mucous matter, with 

 which a tish's scales are covered ; by others for allowing the escape 

 of a fluid which lubricates the skin beneath ; by others to be organs 

 of sense, connected with nerves, and sensible of several forms of 

 vibration. 



It is not commonly known that sea-fish can be acclimatized to 

 fresh water, but it has been done again and again. The salmon is 

 an instance of a sea-fish taking kindly to fresh water of its own 

 accord. The Sable or Hilsa (CI h pea Uisah) is another, and 

 instances might be multiplied. But besides those fish that by 

 nature resort at times to fresh water, those also that never go 

 of their own accord into fresh water, have been acclimatized 

 to it. 



Pish, like the tench, which are bred in muddy water are im- 

 proved for the table by being kept a few days in stone troughs, in 

 I night spring water. 



" Like a fish out of water " is a common saying, the drift of 

 which mills no expounding. I venture to question its accuracy in 

 its full acceptation. I venture to think a lish out of water is not 

 quite so much abroad but that it has still a sense of where the 



THL Bi.I) IN INDIA. U 



