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main by the side of the nest, till the spawn is 

 hatched, watching it, arid attacking most cou- 

 rageously every assailant. Hence, the negroes 

 frequently take them by putting their hands into 

 the water close to the nest, on agitating which 

 the male springs furiously at them and is thus 

 captured, falling a victim to his paternal solici- 

 tude. Aristotle tells us, also, that a fish named 

 phycis makes a nest like a bird. This was long 

 considered to be fabulous, but M. Olivi has lately 

 found a fish, named gou or gau, (cjobius niyer) 

 which has similar habits. The male, at the 

 period of impregnation, digs a hole in the mud, 

 surrounds it with weeds, forming a nest of it, 

 near which he meets the female, and from which 

 he does not stir, until the eggs that have been 

 deposited in it are hatched. 



Fishes, the bones of which are cartilaginous, 

 are long in acquiring their utmost growth ; but 

 this is sometimes very considerable. The white 

 shark has often been found thirty feet long, and 

 not less than four thousand pounds in weight. 

 Their strength, too, seems proportionate to their 

 size, and many, with one blow of their tail, can 

 shatter a strong boat and sink it. 



Some fishes also live to a great age. The carp 

 which were bred in the ditches of Port-Chartrain, 

 are said by Buffon to have exceeded in age one 

 hundred and fifty years ; and those in the Royal 

 Gardens of Charlottenburg, in Prussia, are re- 

 ported by Bloch to have their heads overgrown 

 with moss. Lodelius alleges, that in some ponds 



