WITH FISH AND FISHING. 245 



amongst other curious facts, the following : 

 Several of the volcanoes of the Cordilleras of 

 the Andes occasionally threw out large volumes 

 of fresh water, with an immense number of fishes. 

 The volcano of Imbaburo threw out, at one time, 

 such a great number near the town of Ibarra, that 

 their putrefaction occasioned disorders. This phe- 

 nomenon, astonishing as it appears, is not even 

 extraordinary, but, on the contrary, of frequent 

 occurrence ; so that the facts are authentically 

 preserved in the public records. It is most singu- 

 lar that these fish are not all injured, and some- 

 times arrive at the foot of the mountain still liv- 

 ing ; these animals are thrown from the mouth of 

 the crater, at the height of twelve or thirteen 

 hundred fathoms, and the same species are found 

 in the brooks that run at the foot of the moun- 

 tains ; it is the only species that subsists at the 

 height of fourteen hundred fathoms above the 

 surrounding plain : it is a new species to natural- 

 ists, and Mr. Humboldt has given them the name 

 Pimelodrus Cyclopum ; they may be found in the 

 first number of his Zoology ; he supposes there 

 are lakes in the crater. 



Shower of Fishes. An extract of a letter was 

 read from Mrs. Smith, dated Monradabad, July 20, 

 1829, to a gentleman in Somersetshire, giving an 

 account of a quantity of fishes that fell in a 



