146 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 



tures. It is asserted of the Herring, that if suffered 

 to multiply unmolested, and its offspring to remain 

 undiminished during the space of twenty years, it 

 would shew a progeny many times greater in bulk 

 than the whole earth! that a single Codfish will 

 produce at a birth, if they escape depredation, a num- 

 ber equal to that of the inhabitants of England! 

 The Flounder is said to produce above a million at 

 a time, and a JVlackarel not less than five hundred 

 thousand; and, in regard to the longevity of fishes, 

 several are said to live upwards of an hundred years. 

 How, then, it may be asked, are those myriads of 

 subjects of the watery kingdom kept within due li- 

 mits? How comes it to pass, that the mighty basin 

 is not overstocked? And how are its numerous te- 

 nants provided with food? This must be principal- 

 ly owing to the prevalence of the predatory system 

 among fishes ; for, numerous as are the draughts ta- 

 ken from the bosom of the ocean for the service of 

 man, they can bear no proportion to the number that 

 are left behind. But the sea, like the land, abounds 

 not with a profusion of vegetables, so as to be suffi- 

 cient for the support of all, nor even the greater part 

 of its inhabitants, many of which are known to be 

 of the most greedy and voracious natures It was 

 absolutely necessary, therefore, that they should de- 

 vour one another, and the experience of ages has 

 proved, that great as the increase of these creatures 

 is, and has been, it has never as yet been more than 

 enough; that the balance has hitherto been pretty 

 equally kept up, and that while the astonishing pro- 



