risHKS. io5 



male ia not furnislied with any external instrument of generation. 

 It isi said, liy some, that his only end in that action is to emit his 

 rmpregnating milt upon the eggs that at that time fall from the 

 female. He is said to be seen pursuing them as they float down 

 the stream, and carefully impregnating them one after another. 

 On some occasions also the females dig holes in the bottom of 

 rivers and ponds, and there deposit their spawn, which is im- 

 pregnated by the male in the same manner. All this, however, 

 is very doubtful; what we know with certainty of the matter, 

 and that not discovered till very lately, is, that the male has two 

 organs of generation, that open into the bladder of urine, and that 

 these organs do not open into the rectum as in birds, but have a 

 particular aperture of their own.' These organs of generation 

 in the male are empty at some seasons of the year ; but before 

 the time of spawning they are turgid with what is called the 

 milt, and emit the fluid proper for impregnation. 



Fish have different seasons for depositing their spawn : some, 

 that live in the depths of the ocean, are said to choose the win- 

 ter months : but, in general, those with which we are acquainted, 

 choose the hottest months in summer, and ])refer such water as 

 is somewhat tepitied by the beams of the sun. They then leave 

 the deepest parts of the ocean, which are the coldest, and shoal 

 round the coasts, or swim up the fresh-water rivers, which are 

 warm as they are comparatively shallow. When they have de- 

 posited their burdens they then return to their old stations, and 

 leave their nascent progeny to shift for themselves. 



The spawn continues in its egg- state in some fish longer than 

 in others, and this in proportion to the animal's size. In the 

 salmon, for instance, the young animal continues in the egg from 

 the beginning of December till the beginning of April ; ihe cin-p 

 continues in the egg not above three weeks ; the little gold fish 

 from China is produced still quicker. These all, when excluded, 

 at first escape by their minuteness and agility. They rise, sink, 

 and turn, much readier than grown fish ; and they can escape 

 into very shallow waters when pursued. But, with all their 

 advantages, scarcely one in a thousand survives the numerous 

 perils of its youth. The very male and female that have given 

 them birth are equally dangerous and formidable with the rest, 

 forgetting all relation at their departure. 



1 Vide Gaman de Geiier.itiouo Pisciiiin. 



