134 SPRING-TIDE. 



They formed a very perfect circle of about 

 three feet in diameter, each fish having 

 his head turned inwards. They remained 

 thus grouped and perfectly immovable, ex- 

 cept their fins, but if any strange minnow 

 ventured near them, two or three of the 

 body moved out of the circle and chased 

 it away, returning and falling in again with 

 the greatest precision. How such creatures 

 can commune with each other I leave for 

 the consideration of the naturalist; they, 

 indeed, have " neither speech nor language," 

 and yet truly there must exist the most 

 perfect intelligence among them. 



J. It is, after all, not more wonderful 

 than the instinct with which Providence 

 has endowed many creatures of inferior 

 organization. Fishes, I believe, are desti- 

 tute of natural affection. 



S. To all appearance they are, but then 

 we know so little of their habits. They 

 appear, too, to be insensible to pain, or at 



