FISHES. 57 



The Hag Fish (myxine glutinosa) is worm-like, and 

 without eyes ; the upper margin of the mouth is pierced 

 by a spiracle ; it measures nine inches in length, is thick 

 as a finger; bluish, and very slimy. The myxine is found 

 especially in the Baltic, in the loam at the bottom, doing 

 great injury to the fishes on which it attaches itself, and 

 piercing a hole in the skin, using its mouth as a cupping- 

 glass, and sucks away the flesh, leaving nothing but skin 

 and bones. Their bodies are covered with a white viscid 

 mucus, which, when placed in a vessel of water, is 

 thrown off in an incredible quantity. 



The Querder (amniococtes branchialis) is about eight 

 inches in length, looks like a large maw worm ; is fre- 

 quently found in small brooks and rivers in Europe and 

 elsewhere ; is fond of harboring in the flax which is placed 

 in the water to be cured ; it is eatable, but on account 

 of its vermicular appearance, is used only as bait. It is 

 sometimes called the Line Eel. 



The observant reader, who has followed us through 

 the graduated scale of being to the present point, will 

 doubtless have remarked how wonderfully the links of 

 the chain of animation have lessened as we advanced in 

 our description. Man, whom we began with, and the 

 most wonderful of all animal structures, stands at the 

 head of all mammals, and, independently of his possess- 

 ing an immortal soul, is the most complete and most 

 wonderful of all animal structures. By his external 

 qualities alone, he stands at the head of the great class of 

 all living beings ; and it may have been observed, as we 

 descended the scale of animation, that the animals become 

 less and less perfectly organized ; the nervous system, 

 the respiratory and circulatory processes grow less and 

 less perfect as we proceed. In the variety and progres- 



