HISTORY OF FISHES. 



BOOK I. 

 OF FISHES IN GENERAL. 



CHAP. I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The ocean is the great receptacle of fishes. It has been thought, 

 by some, that all fish are naturally of that salt element ; and that 

 they have mounted up into fresh water by some accidental migra- 

 tion. A few still swim up rivers to deposit their spawn ; but 

 of the great body of fishes, of which the size is enormous, and 

 the shoals are endless, those all keep to the sea, and would quickly 

 expire in fresh water. In that extensive and undiscovered abode, 

 millions reside, whose manners are a secret to us, and whose 

 very form is unknown. The curiosity of mankind, indeed, has 

 drawn some from their depths, and his wants many more : with 

 the figure of these at least he is acquainted ; but for their pur- 

 suits, migrations, societies, antipathies, pleasures, times of gesta- 

 tion, and manner of bringing forth, these are all hidden in the 

 turbulent element that protects them. 



The number of fish to which we have given names, and of the 

 figure, at least, of which we know something, according to Lin • 

 nsEus, are above four hundred.* Thus to appearance, indeed, 

 the history of fish is tolerably copious ; but when we come to ex- 

 amine, it will be found that of the greatest part of these we know 

 very little. Those qualities, singularities, or advantages, that 

 render animals worth naming, still remain to be discovered. 

 The history of fishes, therefore, has little in it entertaining : for 

 9ur philosophers hitherto, instead of studying their nature, have 



* About 1500 species of fish are now known, and of this number about 

 8(X' are found on the coaot or in the inland waters of Brila'ii. 



