SOFT-FINNED ABDOMINAL FISHES. 329 



where apprehension cannot he indulged, or danger 

 feared. Happy England ! where the sea furnishes a 

 luxurious repast, and the fresh waters afford an inno- 

 cent delight, where the angler, in chearful solitude, 

 strolls by the edge of the stream, and neither fears the 

 lurking crocodile or the coiled snake, and (to borrow 

 the pretty description of Walton,) " where he can re- 

 " tire to some friendly cottage, where the landlady is 

 " good, and the daughter innocent as she is sweet; 

 " where the room is cleanly, with lavender in the 

 " sheets, and twenty ballads stuck about the wall : 

 " there he can enjoy the company of a talkative bro- 

 " ther-sportsman, have his trouts dressed for supper, 

 " sing a catch, or tell a tale ; there he can talk of the 

 " wonders of Nature with learned admiration, or find 

 " some harmless sport to content him without offence 

 " to his Maker, or injury to mankind." 



CHAP. VI. 

 OF CRUSTACEOUS AND TESTACEOUS FISHES. 



THE DIVISION OF SHELL FISH. 



IN describing the inhabitants of the water, a class of 

 animals occur, that mankind, from the place of their 

 residence, have been content to call fish ; but which 

 Naturalists, from their formation, have justly agreed 

 to be unworthy of the name. Crustaceous fish, such 

 as the crab and the lobster, have a shell not quite of 

 stony hardness, but rather resembling a firm crust, and, 

 in some measure, capable of yielding ; whilst those of 

 the testaceous kind are furnished with a shell of stony 

 hardness, that only yields to absolute force. 



