OF SPINOUS FISHES IN GENERAL. 233 



fins are moved j thofe filh which are large, fat, and have few fins, are the 

 icafl: bony : thofe which are fmall, lean, and have many fins, are the 

 mod bony. 



Spinous fi(h can live out of their own element but a very fhort time. 

 In general, when taken out of the water, they pant violently and at clofe 

 intervals, the thin air not maintaining their gills in proper playj and in 

 a few minutes they expire. But fome are more vivacious than others ; 

 the eel lives feveral hours out of water j and the carp has been fattened 

 in a damp cellar ; being placed in a net well wrapped up in wet mofs, 

 the mouth only out, and hung up in a vault ; fed with white bread and 

 milk ; and the net now and then plunged into the water. Thus managed, 

 it has been known not only to live a fortnight, but to grow] exceeding 

 fat, and of fuperior flavour. To fome fifhes, bred in the fea, frefh water 

 is immediate deftruction : on the other hand, fome fifhes, that live in our 

 lakes and ponds, cannot bear fait water. Probably this arifes from the 

 fuperior weight of the fea water, and its greater force on the organs of 

 refpiration j fo that fifn ufed only to frefh water, cannot bear the weight of 

 the marine fluid. No fifhes imbibe any of the fea's faitnefs with their 

 food, or in refpiration. The flefh of all filhes is equally frefh, both in 

 the river, and at the falteft depths of the ocean ; yet there are fome whofc 

 organs are equally adapted to either element: the falmon, the fliad, the 

 fmelt, and the flounder, annually quit their native ocean, and come up 

 our rivers to depofite their fpawn. There is no danger they will not en- 

 counter, even to the furmounting precipices, to find a proper place for 

 depofiting their future offspring. The Sx^LiVION afcend rivers five 

 hundred miles from, the fea ; braving not only the danger of enemies, 

 but alfo the afcent of cataradts as high as a houfe. When they come to 

 the bottom of fuch a torrent, they feem difappointed at the obflruftion, 

 and fwim fome paces back : then view the danger before them, furvey it 

 motionlefs for fome minutes, advance, and again retreat ; at laft fummon- 

 ing all their force, they leap from below, their body ilraight, and ftrongly 

 in motion j and thus mofl frequently clear every obflruftion. But fome- 

 times they want ftrengch to make the leap ; and then, in our fifheries, they 

 are taken in their defcent, alfo by the hook, by nets, bafl^ets, &c. Their 

 capture makes, in feveral countries, a great article of commerce j being 

 cured in feveral different manners, by faking, pickling, or drying. 



Others, particularly the EEL, defcend from frelh water, as Redi affures 

 us, to bring forth in i*e fea. About Augufl:, annually, in the m.ofl ob- 

 fcure nights, and when the rivers are flooded b)' rains, they feek the ocean. 



Part V. No. 29. R r Having 



