SPINOUS FISHES. 



651 



entirely wanting ; this then must be a prickly- 

 finiied apodal fish. Of this kind there are 

 but three : and by comparing the fish with 

 the description, I find it either of the trichurus 



kind, the sword-fish, or the gilthead. Upon 

 examining also its internal structure, I shall 

 find a very great similitude between my fish 

 and that placed at the head of the family. 



CHAPTER CXLIX. 



OF SPINOUS FISHES IN GENERAL. 



HAVING given a method by which Spinous 

 Fishes may be distinguished from each other, 

 the history of each in particular might natu- 

 rally be expected to follow ; but such a dis- 

 tinct account of each would be very disgust- 

 ing, from the unavoidable uniformity of every 

 description. The history of any one of this 

 class very much resembles that of all the rest: 

 they breath air and water through the gills ; 

 they live by rapine, each devouring such ani- 

 mals as its mouth is capable of admitting; 

 and they propagate, not by bringing forth 

 their young alive, as in the cetaceous tribes, 

 nor by distinct eggs, as in the. generality of the 

 cartilaginous tribes, but by spawn, or peas, as 

 they are generally called, which thev produce 

 by hundreds of thousands. These are the 

 leading marks that run through their whole 

 history, and which have so much swelled 

 books with tiresome repetition. 



It will be sufficient therefore to draw this 

 numerous class into one point of view, and to 

 mark how they differ from the former classes; 

 and what they possess peculiarly striking, so 

 as to distinguish them from each other. The 

 first object that presents itself, and that by 

 which they differ from all others, are the 

 bones. These, when examined but slightly, 

 appear to be entirely solid ; yet, when viewed 

 more closely, every bone will be found hollow, 

 and filled with a substance less rancid and 

 oily than marrow. These bones are very 

 numerous, and pointed ; and, as in quadru 

 pels, are the props or stays to which the 

 muscles are fixed which move the different 

 parts of the body. 



The number of bones in all spinous fishes 

 of the same kind, is alwuvs the same. It is a 

 vulgar way of speaking M sny, that fishes are 

 at some, seasons more bony than at others ; 



wo- 53 & 36. 



but this scarcely requires contradiction. It is 

 true indeed, that fish are at some seasons much 

 fatter than at others ; so that the quantity of 

 the flesh being diminished, and that of the 

 bones remaining the same, they appear to in- 

 crease in number, as they actually bear a 

 greater proportion. 



All fish of the same kind, as was said, have 

 the same number of bones: the skeleton of a 

 fish, however irregularly the bones may fall 

 in our way at table, has its members very 

 regularly disposed ; and every bone has its 

 fixed place, with as much precision as we find 

 in the orders of a regular fabric. But then 

 spinous fish differ in the number of bones ac- 

 cording to the species: for some have a greater 

 number of fins by which they move in the 

 water. The number in each is always in 

 proportion to the number and size of these 

 fins : for every fish has a regular apparatus of 

 bones and muscles, by which the fins are 

 moved ; and all those fish, where they are 

 numerous or large, must, of consequence, be 

 considerably bony. Indeed, in the larger fish, 

 the quantify of flesh is so much, and the bones 

 themselves are so large, that they are easily 

 seen and separated ; but in the smaller kinds 

 with many fins, the bones are as numerous as 

 in the great ; yet being so very minute, they 

 lurk almost in every part of the flesh, and are 

 dangerous as well as troublesome to be eaten. 

 In a word, those fish which are large, fat, and 

 have few fins, are found to be the least bony ; 

 those which are small, lean, and have many 

 fins, are the most bony of all others. Thus, 

 for instance, a roach appears more bony than 

 a carp, because it is leaner and smaller ; and 

 if is actually more bony than an eel, because 

 it has a greater number of fins. 



As the spinous fish partake less of the quad- 

 41 



