234 OF SPINOUS FISHES IN GENERAL. 



Having reached the fea, and produced their young (for thefe are vivi- 

 parous), they again afcend, as opportunity offers, from January to May, 

 when they are taken in the river Arno by millions, and fo fmall that a. 

 thoufand of them goes to a pound. It is certain they defcend in our 

 own rivers after floods, in abundance, and are caught in nets, to great 

 advantage. They poflefs alfo a power of climbing over obflacles; for, 

 by applying their glutinous and flimy bodies, they can creep up locks, 

 weirs, and every thing that would prevent their afcending the flream. 



There are filh that take a courfe of three or four thoufand miles in a 

 feafon ; yet preyed on by whales, fliarks, and water-fowl, that regularly 

 wait their progrefs. Thefe fifli of pafTage bear ftrong analogy to birds 

 of pafTage, both from their fecial difpofition, and their immenfe numbers. 

 Such are the cod, the haddock, the whiting, the mackarel, the tunny, the 

 herring, and the pilchard. Other fifh live in our vicinity, and refide on 

 our coafts ; or keep in the depths of ocean, feldom feen : but thefe, at 

 ilated feafons, vifit their accuflomed haunts with regular certainty, 

 generally returning the fame week in the fucceeding year, and often the 

 fame day. 



This is one of the moft extraordinary circumftances in the hiftory of 

 nature. What impels them to fuch voyages ; what directs their pafTage ; 

 what fupports them by the way j and what fometimes prompts them to 

 quit, for feveral feafons, one Ihore for another, and then return to their 

 accuflomed harbour; are queftions philofophy can hardly refolve. 



The COD feems foremoft of this wandering tribe j is only found in our 

 northern part of the world. Its chief refort is on the banks of Newfound- 

 land, and the other fand-banks off Cape-Breton. That extenfive flat 

 feems to be the broad top of a fea-mountain, extending above five hun- 

 dred miles, and furrounded with a deeper fea. Hither the cod annually 

 repair in numbers beyond calculation, to feed on the worms found in that 

 fandy bottom. Here they are taken in quantities, to fupply all Europe. 

 Yet this immenfe capture makes but a very fmall diminution of their 

 numbers. When their provifion there is exhaufled, or the feafon for pro- 

 pagation returns, they go off to the polar feas, where they depofit their 

 rocs in fecurity. From thence want of food forces them, as foon as the 

 circumjacent feas are open, to repair fouthward. 



The HADDOCK, the WHITING, and the MACKAREL, are 



thought, by fbme, to be driven on our coafts by the purfuit of larger 



fifhcs: rather, they feek that food which is in greater plenty near the 



fliore than out at fea. Their migrations fecm remarkably regularly 



4 ' conducted. 



