3* or FISHES IN GENERAL. 



fimllar error, many of the moderns are guilty in aflert- 

 ing, that the common falmon arrives at its full growth 

 in a year. Our mod experienced filhers diflinguiili them 

 alfo by different names, till they arrive at iheir fixth 

 year, when they are fuppofed to have reached their full 

 fize : Thofe of the firft year they call fmelts ; of the fe- 

 cond, fprods ; of the third, morts ; of the fourth, fork- 

 tails ; of the iifth, half-fifh ; and of the fixth, falmons *. 

 It is probable, however, notwithftanding the immenfe 

 fize at which many of them arrive, that fillies, in 

 general, are of a quick growth, and that the period of 

 their adolefcence is fmall, in proportion to that of their 

 lives. There is another peculiarity attending the growth 

 of fifli ; and that is, the cetaceous kinds, which are by far 

 the largeft, inhabit chiefly the colder regions of the 

 ocean, adjoining the poles. The revcrfe of this is the 

 cafe with terreftial animals, who always diminilli in fize 

 as they recede from the heat ; and by far the largeft of 

 them, the elephant, the camel, and rhinoceros, are only 

 found in the warm or intratropical latitudes. It is proba- 

 ble, indeed, that the whales might prefer the more tem- 

 perate regions of the ocean, and might even acquire a 

 laro-e fize there ; were they not compelled to avoid them 

 by the frequent difturbance given by Ihips, and to feek 

 that tranquillity, of which they are fond, in the unhofpi- 

 tal climes of the north f . 



Hitherto, we have been examining fifhes with regard 

 to their external conformation, and have found them in- 

 ferior to terreilrial animals in their organization, and in 

 the number of their enjoyments. We are now to contem- 

 plate 



• Vide Willoughby, lib. i. cap. I». 

 f Idem ibidem, 



I 



