BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 



The migration of different kinds of fishes is truly 

 astonishing; and it is pleasing to remark, that it is 

 when fat and in season for eating, that they are 

 taught so instinctively to throng our bays and creeks, 

 while they disperse to the remotest quarters of the 

 globe when lean and emaciated. " Who," in the 

 words of the celebrated Hervey, " Who bids these 

 creatures evacuate the shores, and disperse them- 

 selves into all quarters, when they become worthless 

 and unfit for our service? Who rallies and recalls 

 the undisciplined vagrants, as soon as they are im- 

 proved into desirable food ? Who appoints the very 

 scene of our ambush to be the places of their ren- 

 dezvous, so that they come like volunteers into our 

 nets? Surely the furlough is signed, the summons 

 issued, and the point of re-union settled by a Provi- 

 dence, ever indulgent to mankind, ever studious to 

 treat us with dainties, and load us with benefits." 

 Not only do the Herrings, the poor man's feast, visit 

 our shores at stated periods, and solicit us by their 

 numbers to partake of the bounties of Providence, but 

 the Pilchard, the Mackerel, the Lamprey, the Tun- 

 ny, and the Salmon, are regular in their migrations. 



At the time the Land Crabs of the West Indies 

 arrive upon the coast to deposit their eggs, numerous 

 fishes of different kinds punctually attend, as if time- 

 ly advised of the exact period when they might 

 expect their annual supply, and greedily devour 

 many of the eggs before they are hatched. Fishes, 

 in order to be fed, have been taught to assemble at 

 the side of a pond by the sound of a bell. Dr. George 

 Serger asserts, that having taken a walk with some 



