182 ADMIRABLE ADAPTATIONS. 



as well as I could judge, with instinctive habits,, 

 the same as if it had perfect vision. 



AMICUS. If leisure permit, there is nothing 

 I should like better than the pursuit you 

 speak of, And since, under your guidance, 

 I have become an angler, I will not despair of 

 the higher calling. 



PISCATOR. And rest assured you will be 

 well repaid. The building up of an organic 

 being, is one of the most wonderful of works ; 

 nowhere is design more manifestly exhibited, 

 and the fine adaptation of means to ends. I 

 will mention one example. The young of the 

 salmon, of the Salmonidae, and indeed of fish 

 generally, on quitting the egg, carry with them 

 a load, a liberal supply of aliment in the 

 yolk sac attached to them, on which, in their 

 feeble state, they feed by an act, not of eating, 

 but of absorption ; thereby losing weight ; 

 thereby becoming lighter, less encumbered, and 

 fitter for action. Comparing the young fish 

 on quitting the egg with one six weeks old, 

 just when the vitelline sac the store of food 

 it brings with it has disappeared, removed 

 by absorption, I have found a diminution of 

 weight equal to forty per cent. ; and this, accom- 



