144 ANECDOTES OF FISHES 



The beluga, though an inhabitant of the Black 

 sea, quits it as the salmon does, for the rivers, to 

 dislodge itself of certain vermin that infest its 

 head, or body, which may be seen by the micro- 

 scope ; the vermin is larger than the mites of 

 cheese. Taube Beschreibung von Sclavonien. 



Thus does Providence commission a reptile, 

 apparently of the meanest order, to provide for 

 the necessities of men, and to establish, by con- 

 ducting them to his haunts, his control over the 

 inhabitants of the ocean. 



Plin. Nat. Hist. 



Bathurst River described as excellent in a pe- 

 culiar fish. One man, in less than an hour, 

 caught eighteen, one of which was a curiosity, 

 from the beauty of its colours, and immense size; 

 in shape and form it most resembled a cod, but 

 was speckled with brown, blue, and yellow spots, 

 like a leopard's skin ; its gills and belly a clear 

 white; the tail and fins a dark brown ; it weighed 

 seventy pounds, and without the entrails sixty- 

 six pounds ; but what is rather singular, in none 

 of these fish was any thing found except a shrimp 

 or two. Dimensions : 



Ft. In. 



Length from nose to tail 3 5 



Circumference round the shoulders. . 2 6 

 Fin to fin over the back , 1 5 



