GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 55 



the arches of the gills, as in the Pike ; but only on the pha- 

 ryngeal bone of the Chub apparently backing the assertion 

 of the little boy, who said it had " swallowed its teeth." 



Teeth are of some importance to the naturalist, in deter- 

 mining genera and species. The observing angler will know 

 from them, the habits of fish, whether they are predatory, or 

 live on vegetable substances, or by crushing molluscs and 

 Crustacea. 



Fish shed their teeth, the new coming up beneath the old 

 and displacing them, or the new tooth appears at the side, 

 pushing out the old one and occupying its place. 



The fish being so different in its structure and internal 

 organization from land vertebrates, and inhabiting a cold, dense 

 element, must necessarily differ also in its emotional nature. 

 It is coldly obtuse in its sexual emotions, and in its cares or 

 joys of maternity ; no feeling of friendship attaches it to a 

 higher being, as with the dog. With blunted sense of hear- 

 ing and voiceless, no call of mate attracts it, or draws 

 forth response, as in the bird. And in the dense medium 

 through which it looks, no object delights its lidless eye. 

 Reproducing its species, or migrating in obedience to a law 

 of its nature, it appears with many families, as if condemned 

 to roam the wastes of ocean, or lie torpidly in silent depths, 

 until storm or hunger or enemy incites it to activity. 



Yet this class of animals, so cold, so dull in its sensations ; 

 is one of the most beautiful and wonderful of the Almighty's 

 creations nothing exceeds it in its symmetrical propor- 

 tions ; no form so well adapted for motion through the 

 element it inhabits ; no organs of motion so well contrived 

 for imparting rapid and easy progress as its fins ; no bur- 

 nished or molten silver, or gold, more brilliant than the 

 varied reflections of its sides ; no armor so light, or so well 

 adapted to its wearer, as its lustrous scales. It will always 



