70 PISH. 



or the nature of its productions, are removed 

 beyond the influence of the two principal causes 

 which make a temporary change of situation 

 necessary. Independently of the difficulty of 

 tracing the course pursued through so vast an 

 expanse of water, the order of the appearance of 

 the fish at the different places on the shores of the 

 temperate and southern parts of Europe is the re- 

 verse of that which, according to the recognised 

 theory, ought to have happened. 



It is known that mackerel are now taken, even 

 on some parts of our own coasts, in every month 

 of the year. It is probable that this fish inhabits 

 almost the whole of the European seas ; and the 

 law of nature, which obliges them and many others 

 to visit the shallow water of the shores at a par- 

 ticular season, appears to be one of those wise and 

 bountiful provisions of the Creator, by which not 

 only is the species perpetuated with the greatest 

 certainty, but a large portion of the parent ani- 

 mals are thus brought within the reach of man ; 

 who, but for the action of this law, would be de- 

 prived of many of those species most valuable to 

 him for food. For if the mackerel were dispersed 

 over the immense surface of the deep no effective 



