DISHES IN GENERAL. 239 



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 amazing 

 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 impregnating milt upon the 

 eggs that at that time fall from the female. He is said to be seen pur- 

 suing them as they float down the stream, and carefully impregnating 

 them one after another. On some occasions a,so the females dig 

 holes in the bottom of rivers and ponds, ana there deposit their spawn, 

 which is there 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 discovered 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.* 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 hot- 

 test months in summer, and prefer such water as is somewhat tepi 

 fied by the beams of the sun. They then leave the deepest parts of 

 the ocean, which are the coldest, ana 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 re- 

 turn 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 begin- 

 ning of December till the beginning of April ; the carp continues in 

 the egg not above three weeks ; the little gold fish from China is pro- 

 duced 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 advantages scarce one in a thousand 

 survives the numerous perils of its youth. The very male and female 

 xhat 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 possess- 

 ed of finer organs and higher sensations ; that have all the tenderness 



* Vide Gaman de Generatione Piscium. 



