SPINOUS FISHES, 155 



bregnation is performed without the body of the female, 

 by the male ejeiTting the fmilt, and mingling it with her 

 ova. Something, however, like pairing and copulation, 

 has been obferved among the fiili kept in ponds. At a 

 a certain period, the fexes are feen ftrufrgling together 

 among the grafs, at the brink of the water. It is then 

 that the fcales of fome grow rough, arid lofe their luf-* 

 tre ; that others grow thin, lofe their •appetite, and be- 

 come flabby. Should their copulation be eflablifhed by 

 farther obfervation, their manner of generation would 

 be more analogous to that of the reft of the animal king- 

 dom. 



It is never yet afcertained, whether all the fiflies of 

 this order, when they firft attain to animation, and burd 

 from the egg, leave it perrec?c animals, or in a tadpole 

 ftate, as is the cafe with; the frogs, and many cf the 

 lizards. The young frog is firft uftiered into life, with 

 an enormous head, and (lender tall ; but the tail foou 

 after drops off, the head diminiihes, the legs appear, 

 and the tadpole is metamiOrpholid into the quadruped, 

 when it changes its element, as well as its form. A 

 fpecies of the lizard alfo, which is excluded from the 

 fl.ell without legs, acquires them by degrees, and af» 

 ter fome time leaves the ferpeniine fliape. Some fiiheg, 

 it is probable, in like manner fuffera change, though too 

 imperceptible to attract the notice of the obferver. In 

 fupport of this idea, jt is well known, that during the 

 month of July, there appear in the Ihcunes innumerable 

 fhoals of fmail fifli, called white bait, that are univerfally 

 allowed to be the young of fome fpecies abounding there- 

 They have no roe ; a circumflance which proves them 

 to be youijg : they refemble no other fifli exatSlly ; from 

 U 3 whi-b 



