NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Extraordinary leaps. 



salmon tribe, the whole of which is supposed to 

 afford wholesome food for mankind. 



This fish seems confined in a great measure to 



the northern seas, being unknown in the Medi- 



terranean, and in the waters of other warm cli- 



mates. It Jives in fresh as well as in salt waters, 



forcing itself in autumn up the rivers, sometimes 



for hundreds of miles, for the purpose of deposit- 



ing its spawn. It abandons the seas where it finds 



an abundant sustenance, ascends the rivers de- 



populated by man, endeavors by every kind of 



artifice to escape the snares of the fisherman, and 



all this solely for the purpose of finding a conve- 



nient place for depositing its eggs. In these pe- 



regrinations it ir> that salmon are caught in the 



great numbers that supply our markets and 



tables. Intent only on the object of their jour- 



ney, they spring up cataracts and over other ob- 



stacles of a very great height. This extraordinary 



power seems to be owing to a sudden jerk that 



the fish gives to its body from a bent into a 



straight position. When they are unexpect- 



edly obstructed in their progress, it is s;iid they 



swim a few paces back, survey the object for 



some minutes motionless, retreat, and return 



again to the charge ; then, collecting all their 



force, with one astonishing spring over-leap every 



obstacle. Where the water is low, or sand-banks 



intervene, they throw themselves on one side, and 



in that position soon work themselves over into 



the deep water beyond. On the river Li (lev in 



