THE 



Jtaturaltst's Cafcrnet 



CHAP. I. 



" The sounds and seas, each creek and bay 

 With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals 

 Of fish, that, with their fins and shining scales 

 Glide under the green wave." 



MILTOW. 



OF FISH IN GENERAL. 



.... . . i .1 



Introduction. 



IT has been proved from experience, that the 

 very depths of the immense ocean contains my- 

 riads of creatures, to whose very form we are 

 almost strangers, and of whose dispositions and 

 manners we are still more ignorant. In their 

 construction, however, modes of life, and gene- 

 ral design, these creatures are as truly wonderful 

 as the inhabitants of either the land or air. 



The structure of fish, and their conformation 



to the element in which they are to live, are 



eminent proofs of divine wisdom. Most of them 



have the same external form, sharp at each end, 



A 2 



