SPINOUS FISHES. 107 



and sharp-pointed ; and as in quadrupeds, so in these, they are 

 the props or stays to which the muscles, which move the differ- 

 ent parts of the body, are fixed. The history of any one of 

 this order, in its general feature, includes that of all the rest. 

 They breathe air and water through the gills, and live by rapine, 

 each devouring such animals as it is able to swallow. They 

 propagate, not like the cetaceous tribes, which bring forth their 

 young alive ; nor by distinct eggs, like most of the cartilagin- 

 ous tribes ; but by spawn, producing hundreds of thousands at 

 one time. 



It is difficult to account for the different operations of the 

 same element upon animals that appear to have the same con- 

 formation. To some fishes bred in the sea, fresh water is im- 

 mediate destruction ; and on the other hand, some that live in 

 our lakes and ponds, cannot bear the salt water. Philosophy 

 may form some plausible hypotheses, but these can go no farther 

 ihan probability, nor claim any higher merit than that of inge- 

 nious conjecture. Of the real history of fish, but little is yet 

 Known ; and man has not the means of accurately observing the 

 manner and habits of animals which pass their lives in the im- 

 mense abyss of the waters. Some tribes, however, are known to 

 spend part of their time in the rivers, and part in the ocean. We 

 have already mentioned this circumstance in speaking of the 

 sturgeon, but that is not the only fish of this migrating character. 

 The salmon, the shad, the smelt, and the flounder, annually for- 

 sake the ocean, and ascend the rivers to deposit their spawn. 

 This, indeed, seems the important business of their lives ; and 

 there is no danger which they will not encounter, to find a proper 

 place for the deposition of their future offspring. The salmon 

 is, upon these occasions, known to ascend rivers to the distance 

 of five hundred miles from their mouths, and not only to brave 

 the dangers arising from various enemies, but also to spring up 

 cataracts of an amazing height. The length of the voyages taken 

 by these fishes is short, in comparison with the annual migra- 

 tions of some tribes, of which the residence is continually in the 

 ocean. Of this kind are the cod, the haddock, the mackarel, 

 the herring, the pilchard, and a variety of others. The fecundity 

 of these creatures exceeds our conception, and would in a short 

 time outstrip all calculation. A herring, if suffered to multiply 

 unmolested, and its offspring to remain undiminished during the 

 space of twenty years, would show a progeny many times greater 

 in bulk than the whole earth. This extraordinary and incalculable 

 fecundity, as already observed, in our general remarks on fishes, 

 is the basis of support to the numerous inhabitants of the ocean, 

 and exhibits in the clearest light, and the most striking point of 

 view, the all- wise and comprehensive plan of the great Creator 



