OF FISHES IN GENERAL. fll 



to the ftrong impulfe of hunger, become plunderers 

 in their turn, and revenge the injuries committed on 

 thc'r kind, by deftroying the fpawn of the larger fifhes, 

 which they find floating upon the furface of the water *, 

 Even there, however, they often meet with that violence 

 which their own hoflility merits ; for the oyfler, the 

 fallop, and the mufcle, lie in ambufh at the bottom, with 

 their fhells open ; and, whatever little fifli inadvertently 

 comes into contaft, they inftantly clofe their fliells lapon 

 it, and, at their leifure, devour it in the concealed man- 

 lions of a prifon, from which there is no poiTibility of 

 efcape. 



In ivhat manner digeftion is carried on, to fuch an 

 amazing extent and rapidity, in the ftomachs of fifties, no 

 inquiries of naturalifts have yet been able to afcertain. 

 If we were to judge from their fubftance or heat, we 

 would be led to conclude, that the digeftive powers of 

 thefe animals are feeble and imperfedl ; whereas, they 

 appear fo far to exceed every thing that can be effefted, 

 either by trituration, the operation of heat, or of a dif- 

 folving fluid, that a celebrated phyfician, after various 

 experiments, has been of opmion, that none of thefe 

 caufes is equal to the eflfedl f ; and that the power of 

 digcft:ion, in the cold maw of fiflies, is fo great, as to 

 overturn thofe fyftems, that have attempted to account 

 for it on thefe principles. 



The powers of alfimulation in fiflies, feem to increafe 

 with the quantity of food with which they are fupplied, 

 A pike fparingly fed, can be habituated to fubfifl: oa 

 very little nouriibment ; if fully fupplied, it acquires the 

 power of devouring an hundred roaches in three days. 

 The digefting power of fiflies, is as extraordinary, as 



their 



f Goldfmith, Nat. Hift. vol. vi. f Dr. Hunter. 



