.5 I'i HISTOKY OF 



beak ; the under juw pierced longitudinally with small holes ; 

 the fill covering the gills with from seven to twelve rays. 



44. The Argentina or Argentine. The body a little round 

 and slender ; the head with a beak, broader than the body ; the 

 fm covering the gills with eight rays ; a spurious bark-fin. 



45. The Clupea or Herring. The body a little oblong ; the 

 head with a small beak; the fin covering the gills with eight 

 rays, 



46. The Exocetiis or Fhjing-Jish. The body oblong; the 

 head almost three-cornered ; the fin covering the gills with seven 

 rays ; the pectoral fins placed high, and as long as the whole 

 body ; the back-fin at the extremity of the back. 



47. The Cgprinus or Carp. The body elongated, almost 

 round ; the head with a small beak ; the hinder part of the bone 

 covering the gills, marked with a crescent ; the fin covering the 

 gills with three rays. • 



quit the sea so early as the salmon, being: seldom seen in the rivers before 

 the montli of May. They spawn in the same manner as salmon, in Novem- 

 ber or December ; but as the rivers are then frozen, they do not retire to 

 the sea till after the thaw. Like all other fish of the same g^enus, they live 

 upon aquatic insects, worms, and small fish, and are fond of rapid streams, 

 with a bottom of sand and gravel. Their flesh ia red, and well-tasted, par- 

 ticularly before the spawning season. Its quality depends, iu a great mea- 

 sure, on the greater or less degree of purity of the streams in which the fish 

 are taken ; their colour and spots vary extremely from the same cause. 

 They die soon after they are taken out of the water. Young salmon trout 

 are known by the name of whitlings ; and many have supposed them to ba 

 young salmon, which opinion has been proved to be ill-founded. 



Salmon-trouts attain a considerable size, weigliing sometimes eight or ten 

 pounds. Dr Bloch describes one that was twenty inches in length, an inch 

 and a half thick, and which weighed five pounds and three quarters. Th«s 

 gentleman discovered, that this fish, like several kinds of sea-fish, possesses 

 the quality of emitting light in a dark place ; and that the palate, tongue, 

 gills, and eyes, were endowed with that property in an eminent degree. 

 When touched with the finger, those parts oast a considerable light ; and 

 when any other part was rubbed with the same finger, that quality was like- 

 wise communicated to it The luminous matter, the doctor imagines, is 

 contained in the slimy substance which covers those parts ; for the flesh 

 does not afford the smallest appearance of light. He kept fi-sh eight days, 

 and this luminous property diminished in proportion as the viscous matter 

 was dried up. 



The Grayling is a scarce fish in England, and is not to be I'ouud in Scot, 

 land or Ireland. They frequent rivers of peculiar temperature or current 



• The Common Carp. — In their general habit these fish exhibit so great a 

 degree of cunning, as to be sometimes called by the country people the 

 Rivei Fox. When attempted to be taken by a net, they will often leap 



