OF FISHES IN GENERAt. 29 



thofe nations, whom arts and agriculture have rendered 

 lefs dependent on this precarious fupport, fuperltition 

 has come in the place of want, and given a new edge to 

 their avidity for this fpecles of food. From the inva- 

 fions, therefore, of terreftrial animals, and from their 

 own mutual rapacity, the annual confumption of fifhes 

 is conftant and immenfe ; but the munificent Author of 

 Nature has made a kind proviiion for his creatures, by 

 the amazing fertility which he has conferred on this 

 clafs of beings. 



The fecundity of fifh in general far furpaffes that of 

 any other animals ; in fome, it exceeds belief, for there 

 are individuals among this clafs of the animal kingdom 

 capable of producing, in one year, a greater number of 

 their fpecles than all the inhabit.-mts of Great Britain. Nine 

 millions of ova have been found in the fpawn of a fmgle 

 cod * ; one million, three hundred, and fifty-feven thou- 

 fand, four hundred, have been taken from the belly of a 

 flounder : The mackerel, carp, tench, and a variety of 

 other fpecies, are faid to poffefs a degree cf fertility but 

 little inferior f. 



Such an aftoniihlng progeny, were it allowed to ar- 

 rive at maturity, and to add the whole of its number to 

 the reft of the family, would foon overftock Nature; and 

 even the ocean itfelf would not be able to contain, much 

 Icfs to provide for the half of its inhabitants. Of the 

 ova fpawned by thefe different fifh, however, probably 

 not one in an hundred ever becomes a full-gvown ani- 

 mal : They are devoured by the lelFer fry that frequent 

 the fliores, by aquatic birds near the margin, and by 



the 



* Dr. Lcvvenloch. 



f ^/l/v- Farmer's caIculatIon5, Philofop'nical Tranfaftions, 1767. 



