DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 



575 



this department of the animal kingdom presents greater variety of form, from the beau- 

 tiful to the grotesque and monstrous, than any other. Some species, as the common pike 

 of our rivers, attain an age surpassing that of the longest-lived land animals. The 

 individual taken at Kaiserslautern in 1754, which was nineteen feet in length, had been 

 put into the pond of that castle by order of Frederick the Second, with a ring fastened to 

 the gill-covers, bearing the date of 1487, so that the fish was more than two centuries 

 and a half old, at the time of the capture. Though low in the scale of existence, several 

 varieties show a capacity for instruction, and have been trained to recognise their names, 

 making their appearance when summoned by them. Lacepede mentions this fact, in 

 relation to some fish, which, for more than a century, had been kept in the basin of the 

 Tuilleries ; and in some parts of Germany, trout, carp, and tench have been taught to 

 come for their food by the ringing of a bell. While some tribes are sluggish, and appear 

 to love repose, leading a meditative life in the waters, the herring rivals the swallow in 

 activity and speed, rushing through the deep at the rate of sixteen miles an hour. While 

 many also seem perfectly defenceless, there are several species armed with formidable 

 weapons, which are wielded with tremendous power, as the teeth of the shark, and the 

 snout of the Xiphias or sword-fish. This latter inhabitant of the ocean is well known to 

 have endangered an East Indiaman, by driving his long serrated snout through the hulk 

 of the vessel, which might have foundered, but for the sword being driven with such 

 force into the timbers of the ship that the fish could not extricate it, so that no leak of 

 any consequence ensued. A piece of the hulk, with a part of the fish's sword imbedded 

 in it, is now among the curiosities of the British Museum. Other tenants of the deep 

 have the same singular property of emitting light while alive, which belongs to the torn 

 and irregular particles of gelatinous matter with which the ocean is charged, their dead 

 and dismembered relics, the common cause of the phosphorescence of the sea. Besides 

 the bright green sparks with which the waves are observed to scintillate, which are due 

 to decomposing organic particles, or to minute living Crustacea, circular and oval patches, 

 from two to four yards in diameter, with defined outlines, shining with a steady and pale 

 light, are often remarked in certain oceanic localities, indicating the presence of the sun 

 or the moon-fish, which is so called from the object resembling a reflection of either of 

 these luminaries in the water, though neither may be seen in the heavens. Some fishes 

 display the curious power of shooting at the insects upon which they prey with a drop of 

 water, thereby encumbering their wings, and bringing them within reach. The Chce- 

 todon rostratus performs this feat with surprising accuracy* striking a fly winging its 

 flight over the surface of the sea, or resting upon an aquatic plant at the distance of from 

 three to six feet. But among the most striking of the finny tribe is the Exoccetus, or 

 flying-fish, which has the power of raising itself out of the water, and continuing sus- 

 pended for a season in the air, beyond the reach of the pursuing dolphin, presenting one 

 of the most interesting and novel spectacles which the tropics unfold to the eye of 

 a stranger. 



No property of the inhabitants of the waters is more extraordinary, than that possessed 

 by various species, of inflicting an electrical shock so severe, as to produce exhaustion 

 and numbness of the nerves exposed to its action. The torpedo of the Mediterranean 

 exhibits this wonderful power, which was well known to the ancients, and is often 

 referred to in their writings. Thus Appian tells us, that the animal, conscious of his 

 latent faculty, when caught by a hook, exerts it in such a manner, that passing along 

 the line and rod, it benumbs the astonished fisherman, and suddenly reduces him to a 

 state of helpless stupefaction : 



" The hook'd torpedo, with instinctive force, 

 Calls all his magic from its secret source ; 



