BRITISH ZOOLOGISTS. 99 



main body approaches, its breadth and its depth is such as 

 to alter the appearance of the very ocean. It is divided 

 into distinct columns of five or six miles in length, and 

 three or four in breadth, and they drive the water before 

 them with a kind of rippling : sometimes they sink for the 

 space of ten or fifteen minutes, then rise again to the 

 surface, and in bright weather reflect a variety of splendid 

 colours, like a field of the most precious gems, in which, 

 or rather in a much more valuable light, should this 

 stupendous gift of Providence be considered by the 

 inhabitants of the British Isles. 



'The first check this army meets in its march south- 

 wards is from the Shetland Isles, which divide it into two 

 parts ; one wing takes to the east, the other to the western 

 shores of Great Britain, and fill every bay and creek with 

 their numbers; others pass on towards Yarmouth, the 

 great and ancient mart of herrings ; they then pass through 

 the British Channel, and after that in a manner disappear. 

 Those which take to the west, after offering themselves 

 to the Hebrides, where the great stationary fishing is, 

 proceed towards the north of Ireland, where they meet 

 with a second interruption, and are forced to make a 

 second division; the one takes to the western side, and 

 is scarce perceived, being soon lost in the immensity of 

 the Atlantic; but the other, which passes into the Irish 

 Sea, rejoices and feeds the inhabitants of most of the 

 coasts that border on it.' 



As an average sample of the style of the ' British 

 Zoology,' we may quote in full the description which 

 Pennant gives of the common hog. After giving the 

 synonymy of the species, and a list of its names in 



