HABITS OF FISHES. 87 



34. To the simultaneous developement of an incalculable 

 number of eggs, deposited in the same place, and the instinct 

 that induces different fishes to follow each other, we must 

 attribute the assemblage of certain species, in immense and close 

 legions, called by fishermen, skoals of fish. In fact, we cannot 

 well term these assemblages, companies or societies; the indi- 

 viduals composing them do not aid each other; from having the 

 same necessities to satisfy, they keep in the same locality, or 

 abandon it, and if we sometimes observe one among them 

 followed as a leader, it probably arises from a tendency to 

 imitation which always accompanies the first dawnings of reason. 



[ It may be astonishing- to some to speak of the reasoning of a fish, an 

 animal that is proverbial for its stupidity; but if we study the habits of 

 these beings in our fish-ponds, wo shall see that, when they swirn tranquilly; 

 without any determined aim, they pass side by side, without seeming to pay 

 attention to the motions of their companions : but, if one of them suddenly 

 perceiving a bait, hastens its course, and swims swiftly in a determined 

 direction, we frequently observe that the other fishes, even those that are 

 placed so as not to perceive the object of attraction, at once follow in the 

 crowd to profit by the discovery. Now, this instinct of imitation resembles 

 simple reasoning, it is true, but aonsecutive. M.iy we not suppose that 

 these animals attribute the rapid course of their companion to some circum- 

 stance of a nature to interest them also, to the discovery of some danger 

 they ought to avoid, or to some bait he rushes to devour, and it is for this 

 reason they hasten in pursuit / And is not this the case every where, even 

 among men ; and is not the instinct of imitation, which produces so many 

 good and evil actions, a consequence of this tendency to profit by the results 

 of the observation or judgment of another, and to attribute to the actions of 

 those who seem to be moved by a' powerful impulse, an object that it would 

 be equally desirable for all to attain ? ] 



35. Whatever it may be, these animals thus assembled in 

 troops, often make long voyages, either to gain the open sea, or 

 to ascend rivers, or to change their latitude. Certain fishes lead 

 an almost sedentary life, and always remain in the same locality 

 where they were born ; others are always roaming, and a great 

 many of these animals make periodical voyages of greater or 

 less extent. In the cold season, they ordinarily approach the 

 coast, or enter rivers, and in this way make long passages. 

 Every year, about the same period, shoals of migratory fishes 

 arrive in the sam^ places, and it is generally believed that .many 

 of these species regularly migrate from the north towards the 

 south, and from the south towards the north, pursuing a deter- 



34 How do you account for those vast assemblages of various kinds of 

 fish, termed Shoals ? 



35. Are the habits of all kinds of fish the same ? Are the same fishes 

 always found in the same localities ? 



