in Lusatia there are carp about two hundred 

 years old. At Manheim is a skeleton of a pike, 

 nineteen feet in length, and which is said to have 

 weighed, when alive, three hundred arid fifty 

 pounds. It was caught at Kayserlantera in 1497 > 

 and a Greek inscription on a brass ring, inserted 

 in the gills, announces that it had been put into 

 the pond by the Emperor Frederick II., that is 

 to say, two hundred and sixty-seven years before 

 it was taken. Some species, however, are known 

 to have a much shorter existence ; thus, the eel 

 usually lives about fifteen years ; the bream and 

 the tench, from ten to twelve ; while the stickle- 

 back seldom survives two. The comparative 

 simplicity of their structure, the flexibility of 

 their frame, the strength of their digestive powers, 

 and the equal temperature of the element they 

 inhabit, probably contribute to the longevity of 

 fish ; yet with all this they are subject to indis- 

 position and diseases to which they frequently 

 fall victims. The tenacity with which some 

 species adhere to life is remarkable ; it is well 

 known that many, particularly perch, may be 

 frozen, and in this condition transported for 

 miles. It appears that their condition, while 

 in this state, is similar to that of what are called 

 hibernating animals, such as the bat, the dor- 

 mouse, and the marmott, when rendered torpid 

 by the winter's cold a state resembling sleep 

 but differing from it in being far more intense, 

 and in involving a greater number of functions. 

 If, when in this condition, fishes are placed in 



