ASPLENIUM ASS. 



219 



ASPLENIUM (Linnaeus). A family of ferns 

 vonsisting of forty-seven species, natives of almost 

 every region of the earth. Generic character : sori 

 in lines along the sides of the veins ; indusium, a 

 membranous plane, opening at the side. This tribe 

 is divided into six sections, founded on the form of 

 the fronds. 



ASPREDO. A genus of soft-finned fishes, with 

 abdominal fins, belonging to the natural family of the 

 Siluridtz, and by the elder ichthyologists included in 

 the genus Silurtts. They have one remarkable cha- 

 racter, not to be met with in any other of the bony 

 fishes, and yet in which they can hardly be said to 

 approach the cartilaginous ones. Their gill-lids are 

 immoveable, and there is merely a slit on each side of 

 the neck, by means of which the water used in respi- 

 ration is discharged after it has passed through the 

 gills and performed its office there. The gill-lid is 

 incapable of motion ; and thus it is a question how 

 they contrive to produce a current of water through 

 the gills when they are at rest, as the motion of the 

 gill-lid is supposed to assist in that operation in all 

 the other bony fishes. Their head is flat, and the eyes 

 very small and placed in the upper part of the head. 

 The anterior part of the body is much enlarged, 

 especially in breadth. They have two teeth or spines 

 upon the first ray of the pectorals, much larger and 

 more formidable than those on any of the siluri. 

 There is but one dorsal fin ; but the anal fin is long, 

 extending to the tail, and the tail is slender as well 

 as long. As is the case with that of most of the 

 family, their flesh is little esteemed. 



ASPRO. A genus of spinous-finned fishes, so 

 called from the roughness of their scales. They 

 belong to the Pcrcoidas or perch family, and in many 

 of their characters they have a considerable resem- 

 blance to the common perch. The leading characters 

 are, the body elongated, with two dorsal fins consi- 

 derably apart from each other, and with the ventral 

 fins very large ; the head is depressed, and the muzzle 

 projects beyond the mouth, and is rounded at its ter- 

 mination. 



Two species are found in some of the rivers of 

 Europe ; but so far as observation has gone, they are 

 not generally distributed even where the latitude and 

 climate are nearly the same. The flesh of both is 

 esteemed as pleasant to the taste, and light and easily 

 digestible. 



One species, V apron of the French, is found in the 

 Rhone and its branches. It is the Aspro vulgaris of 

 Cuvier, and Pcrca asper of Linmeus. It is of a 

 greenish colour, with three or four vertical bands of 

 black upon each side. It grows to about the same 

 size as the common perch, only it is longer in pro- 

 portion. This species has eight rays in the first 

 dorsal fin. 



The other European species is found in the Da- 

 nube ; it is the Zingel (Perca zingel) of Linnceus. It 

 is larger than the other, but coloured nearly in the 

 same manner. It has thirteen rays in the first 

 dorsal fin. 



ASS (Equus asinus}, a well-known, but, in this 

 country at least, not equally well-used animal. It is 

 a species'of the genus equus, or the horse, and inter- 

 mediate between the horse, properly so called, and 

 the zebras or striped species of the same genus. 

 The genus forms the third family of Cuvier's Pachy- 

 dermatous animals^ the family Solidungula, that is one- 

 hoofed or solid hoofed. Attempts have sometimes 



been made to make the ass a genus separate from the 

 horse, but they have, very properly, not been gene- 

 rally adopted. There are specific differences cer- 

 tainly, but there is not one generic one : and the same 

 law of subdivision, which would make two genera of 

 the horse and ass, would, if carried generally into 

 natural history, destroy the foundation of all generic 

 classification. The discovery of a new genus is however 

 reckoned so very great an honour among systematic 

 naturalists, that it is no wonder that some of those 

 who have not the opportunity of discovering a new 

 genus, should be occasionally tempted to " do the 

 best they can," by making one. The present instance 

 is, however, far from a happy one for such an experi- 

 ment. 



In this country, the ass is seen under very great 

 disadvantages, and, independently of the climatal 

 deteriorations, and the greater deterioration arising 

 from bad treatment, there is a prejudice attached to 

 the very name. Ironically, it is, in vulgar language, 

 used to express dulness and stupidity in human beings ; 

 and this, its metaphorical meaning, is thrown back 

 with additional degradation upon the animal. Why 

 this should be so strongly the fact in the case of the 

 ass, does not appear explainable upon any very ra- 

 tional grounds, as it is not so in the case of some 

 other animals. Thus, to call a man " horse," is nei- 

 ther very consistent with polite speech, nor very com- 

 plimentary ; and yet that does not in the least detract 

 from the character of the horse, which still holds its 

 place, by common consent, and in common parlance, 

 as "the noblest" of domestic animals. Something 

 may depend upon the owners and the usage of the 

 animals, though when the horse is past honourable 

 and respectable service, rating the treatment according 

 to the power of endurance, he is probably the worse 

 used animal of the two. Much as Englishmen boast 

 of their horses, and carefully as they tend and pamper 

 them while handsome, the pathetic ballad of " The 

 High-mettled Racer" is still a faithful biography of 

 perhaps ninety-nine out of every hundred horses in 

 England. A few, no doubt, are allowed to spend 

 their last days in ease and plenty ; but they are so 

 few that they form the exception and not the rule. 

 The character of the animals appear, however, to be 

 taken from the condition of their owners, and the 

 treatment which they receive in their best service, 

 and thence may arise the difference. 



The ass, from its low price, the cheap rate at which 

 it can be maintained, and its exemption from state im- 

 posts is, in an especial manner, the poor man's beast 

 of burden. But the state of modern society in Bri- 

 tain is such, that the more settled, constantly occu- 

 pied, and, for these reasons, the more respectable of 

 the poor, do not require beasts of burden. They are 

 almost all employed for others ; and therefore the ass 

 falls into the hands of persons of another description 

 those who have no home or no constant employ- 

 ment at home, but who must wander about the 

 country in the profession of the lowest description of 

 huxters, or with no profession at all. Though per- 

 sons of this description cannot be said to be altogether 

 out of society, they are of necessity deprived of many 

 of its advantages. They get no character from the 

 more regular part of society ; and it appears to be a 

 sort of law of human nature, that persons who are too 

 poor to purchase a good character (for, in a mer- 

 cantile country, that article has its price as well as 

 others), are never able to acquire one, unless the 



