N A P E L L U S N A S T U S. 



311 



of Norway, where this fish appears to be more abun- 

 dant than on any part of the British shores, as many 

 as six have been found in the skin of a single haddock, 

 the flesh of which they had almost entirely consumed. 

 On our coasts it is most generally found on the cod 

 and haddock banks, and we believe more rarely in 

 the deep-water fishings. It seems also to be more 

 abundant the more northerly the situation, provided 

 the bottom is adapted for those fishes upon which it 

 appears chiefly to feed. The breathing apparatus is 

 one of the most curious parts of its structure. There 

 are twelve branchial cells, six arranged on each side, 

 and these communicate singly with the internal 

 canal ; but the communications externally are with a 

 common tube on each side, so that there are only 

 two openings outward from the breathing apparatus. 

 There is also only one inwards, or from without, 

 more strictly speaking, namely, the spiracle men- 

 tioned in the quotation from Mr. Yarrell. How the 

 breathing of the animal is carried on by means of 

 this singular apparatus is not easily understood ; but 

 the probability is that it is very slow, and that the 

 grand labour of the animal consists in the manufac- 

 ture of that species of glue which it secretes in such 

 abundance. Looking at the simple structure of this 

 animal, its slender form and its soft texture, one 

 would be led to conclude that it is one of the least 

 offensive, and least capable of doing active injury, of 

 any of the race. It is never found above fifteen 

 inches in length, and rarely more than a foot; it is not 

 thicker than the little finger ; and it is not only blind, 

 but absolutely without anything that can be positively 

 called a head, or, at all events, a head furnished with ! 

 jaw-bones, and the other parts which characterise the 

 heads of vertebrated animals ; but we should be in 

 error were we to estimate what nature can accomplish 

 by our notions of the means of its accomplishment ; 

 and thus the hag, which appears so imperfectly 

 formed and so helpless, can " spoil the spoilers," and 

 feast upon the most voracious fishes, in spite of any 

 effort they may make to the contrary. The common 

 supposition is, that the hag does not attack any fish 

 until that fish is caught on a hook, or fixed by some 

 means or other. But this is very unlikely. We 

 know no means by which a living fish can be fixed in 

 the water except on a fisherman's hook ; and dead 

 fishes very speedily float to the surface, and turn up 

 to the air that side at which alone the hag is supposed 

 to enter. To suppose, therefore, that the hag cannot 

 feed except upon fishes which are fast, is supposing, 

 in other words, that it cannot live without the art of 

 man a supposition which is contrary to every analogy 

 of nature. As found parasitical in the bodies of fish, 

 (and this is the way in which it is usually found), the 

 hag is seasonal on the British coasts, being found 

 only in the end of spring or the beginning of summer, 

 and then only in fine and tranquil weather. Alto- 

 gether it is an ivnimal of obscure history and habits, 

 and its chief interest lies in the peculiar place which 

 it occupies in the system, as partaking of the charac- 

 ters both of the vertebrated and the invertebrated 

 animals. 



There is another fish of a singular character, and 

 nearly allied to this one, which we omitted to notice 

 in its order in the alphabet, and therefore we shall 

 introduce it here, as it forms an appropriate supple- 

 ment to the species of which we have been speaking. 

 The fish to which we allude is 

 THE LANCELET (Amphcoxus lanceolatus). This fish is 



of very diminutive size, scarcely an inch in length, 

 very slender, and almost entirely transparent. The 

 body is compressed laterally, and there are no pec- 

 toral, ventral, anal, or caudal fins, but only a single 

 dorsal fin, extending the whole length of the body, 

 but becoming almost rudirnental at the tail, which is 

 very sharp pointed. There are no eyes, and no 

 vestige of any external organ, except a mouth, which 

 is situated on the under side, a little behind what may 

 be regarded as the nose or snout. This mouth is sur- 

 rounded by small tentacula, and it opens and shuts 

 laterally. It does not appear well adapted for 

 adhering, as the mouths of the typical Cyclostoma do ; 

 but still the fish more nearly resembles them than it 

 does any others. The surface of this curious little 

 fish is entirely without scales, and the rays which 

 support the dorsal fin are very numerous, though 

 minute. The spinal column is not only cartila- 

 ginous, but almost rudimental ; and yet the muscles, 

 which are numerous and beautifully arranged, are so 

 placed as to leave no doubt that the animal is a 

 vertebrated one. The filaments, or tentacula, which 

 surround the mouth, and which, like those of the 

 hag, appear to be the only distinct and located organs 

 of sense, are not inserted on the sides of the mouth, 

 but on the os hyoides, or bone of the tongue ; and 

 thus the tongue appears to be the essential organ 

 with it as well as with the former. 



This singular fish is either very rare, or it is over- 

 looked, only two specimens being mentioned. The 

 first of these was obtained by Pallas ; the second 

 was obtained by Mr. Couch, sent to Mr. Yarrell, and 

 by him described in his " British Fishes." Both were 

 procured on the coast of Cornwall, and both, we 

 believe, found accidentally. 



NAPELLUS is the Aconitum napellus of Lin- 

 nreus, the common monkshood of gardens, of which 

 there are several varieties. The aconites are among 

 the most powerful vegetable poisons known. The 

 root is the most virulent part of the plant ; a single 

 drachm has been known to cause death. 



NARAVELIA(Decandolle). A hothouse climber 

 belonging to Ranunculacece, formerly known as the 

 Atragene zelanica. It is propagated by cuttings, 

 and grows well in a mixture of sand, loam, and moor 

 earth. 



NARCISSUS (Linna?us). An extensive genus of 

 well-known bulbous flowers, mostly natives of Europe. 

 Several of the species are British, the common daffo- 

 dil being found wild in many places. The JV. Tazetta 

 or polyanthus, jonquil, and the poeticus, are among 

 the most esteemed of the tribe. The narcissi belong 1 

 to AmaryllidecE, and are easy of cultivation. 



NARTHECIUM (Mohr). A genus of small 

 rush-like plants found on turfy bogs, belonging to the 

 sixth class of sexual botany, and to the natural order 

 Juncete. One species is indigenous to Britain, an- 

 other is found in North America. 



NASTURTIUM (Dr. Brown). A genus of an- 

 nual and perennial herbs, chiefly aquatics. The 

 flowers are tetradynamous, and consequently belong to 

 CrucifercB. The watercress is the principal one culti- 

 vated. The N. qfficinale, the common one, is brought 

 in immense quantities into the metropolis, being col- 

 lected from the neighbouring streams, andforms an im- 

 portant though humble branch of domestic commerce. 



NASTUS (Jussieu). A reed-like plant, found in 

 Cumana, belonging to Gramincce, formerly called 



