248 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



part of mankind. Indeed, when we consider 

 the numbers that a single fish is capable of 

 producing, the amount will seem astonishing. 

 If, for instance, we should be told of a being 

 so very prolific, that in a single season it 

 could bring forth as many of its kind as there 

 are inhabitants in England, it would strike us 

 with surprise; yet a single cod produces full 

 that number. The cod spawns in one season, 

 as Lewenhoeck assures us, above nine millions 

 of eggs or peas, contained in one single roe. 

 The flounder is commonly known to produce 

 above one million ; and the mackarel above 

 five hundred thousand. Such an amazing 

 increase, if permitted to come to maturity, 

 would overstock nature, and even the ocean 

 itself would not be able to contain, much less 

 to provide for, the half of its inhabitants. But 

 two wise purposes are answered by this amaz- 

 ing increase ; it preserves the species in the 

 midst of numberless enemies, and serves to 

 furnish the rest with a sustenance adapted to 

 their nature. 



Fishes seem, all except the whale kind, 

 entirely divested of those parental solicitudes 

 which so strongly mark the manners of the 

 more perfect terrestrial animals. How far 

 they copulate remains as yet a doubt; for 

 though they seem to join, yet the male is not 

 furnished with any external instrument of 

 generation. It is said, by some, that his only 

 end in that action is to emit his impregnated 

 milt upon the eggs that at that time fall from 

 the female. He is said to be seen pursuing 

 them as they float down the stream, and care- 

 fully impregnating them one after another. 

 On some occasions also the females dig holes 

 in the bottom of rivers and ponds, and there 

 deposit their spawn, which is impregnated 

 by the male in the same manner. All this, 

 however, is very doubtful ; what we know 

 with certainty of the matter, and that not dis- 

 covered till very lately, is, that the male has 

 two organs of generation, that open into the 

 bladder of urine, and that these organs do not 

 open into the rectum as in birds, but have a 

 particular aperture of their own. 1 These 

 organs of generation in the male are empty at 

 some seasons of the year ; but before the time 

 of spawning they are turgid with what is 

 called the milt, and emit the fluid proper for 

 impregnation. 



Fish have different seasons for depositing 

 their spawn : some, that live in the depths of 

 the ocean, are said to choose the winter 

 months: but, in general, those with which 

 we are acquainted, choose the hottest months 

 in summer, and prefer such water as is some- 

 \vhat tepified by the beams of the sun. They 

 then leave the deepest parts of the ocean, 



1 Vide Gaman de Generatione Phcium. 



which are the coldest, and shoal round the 

 coasts, or swim up the fresh-water rivers, 

 which are warm as they are comparatively 

 shallow. When they have deposited their 

 burdens they then return to their old stations, 

 and leave their nascent progeny to shift for 

 themselves. 



The spawn continues in its egg-state in 

 some fish longer than in others, and this in 

 proportion to the animal's size. In the salmon, 

 for instance, the young animal continues in 

 the egg from the beginning of December till 

 the beginning of April ; the carp continues in 

 the egg not above three weeks ; the little gold 

 fish fiom China is produced still quicker. 

 These all, when excluded, at first escape by 

 their minuteness and agility. They rise, sink, 

 and turn, much readier than grown fish; and 

 they can escape into very shallow waters 

 when pursued. But, with all their advant- 

 ages, scarcely one in a thousand survives the 

 numerous perils of its youth. The very male 

 and female that have given them birth are 

 equally dangerous and formidable with the 

 rest, forgetting all relation at their departure. 



Such is the general picture of these heedless 

 and hungry creatures ; but there are some in 

 this class, living in the waters, that are pos- 

 sessed of finer organs and higher sensations; 

 that have all the tenderness of birds or quad- 

 rupeds for their young, that nurse them with 

 constant care, and protect them from every in- 

 jury. Of this class are the cetaceous tribe, or 

 the fishes of the whale kind. There are 

 others, though not capable of nursing their 

 young, yet that bring them alive into the 

 world, and defend them with courage and 

 activity. These are the cartilaginous kinds, 

 or those who have gristles instead of bones. 

 But the fierce unmindful tribe we have been 

 describing, that leave their spawn without 

 any protection, are called the spinous, or bony 

 kinds, from their bones resembling the sharp- 

 ness of thorns. 



Thus there are three grand divisions in the 

 fish kind ; the cetaceous, the cartilaginous, and 

 the spinous : all differing from each other in 

 their conformation, their appetites, in their 

 bringing forth, and in the education of their 

 young. These three great distinctions are 

 not the capricious differences formed by a 

 maker of systems, but are strongly and firmly 

 marked in Nature. These are the distinc- 

 tions of Aristotle; and they have been adopted 

 by mankind ever since his time. It will be 

 necessary, therefore, to give the history of 

 each of these in particular; and then to ar- 

 range, under each head, those fishes whose 

 history is the most remarkable ; or, more pro- 

 perly speaking, those of which we have any 

 history. For we shall find, when we come 

 to any of the species in particular, how little 



