GREAT WEEVER. 23 



the circumstance, that fish from deep water have the muscle 

 more dense in structure — in their language, more firm to the 

 touch, — that they are of finer flavour, and will keep longer, 

 than fish drawn from shallow water. 



The law referred to has its origin in the principles of 

 organization ; and though it would be difficult for the ana- 

 tomist to demonstrate those deviations in structure between 

 the trout and the tench which give rise to these distinctions 

 and their effects, it is only necessary to make the points of 

 comparison wider to be assured of the fact. 



Between a fish with a true bony skeleton, the highest in 

 organization among fishes, and the lamprey, the lowest, the 

 differences are most obvious. If we for a moment consider 

 the lamprey, which is the lowest in organization of the ver- 

 tebrated animals, with only a rudimentary vertebral column, 

 as the supposed centre of zoological structure, and look from 

 thence up and down the scale of organization, we at the 

 extreme on one side arrive at man, to whom division of his 

 substance would be destruction ; but, on the other, we come 

 to the polype, the division of which gives rise to new ani- 

 mals, each possessing attributes, not only equal to each 

 other, but equal also to the animal of which they previously 

 formed but a small part. 



To return to the Great Weever : the number of fin-rays 

 are, 



D. 6— 30 : P. 15 : V. 1 -f-5 : A. 1 +31 : C. 14. 



Head and body compressed ; teeth small and numerous ; 

 two small spines before each eye, irides golden yellow ; 

 interoperculum and suboperculum smooth and without scales, 

 cheeks and operculum with small scales ; gill-opening large ; 

 vent in a line under the last spine of the first dorsal fin ; 

 scales of the body arranged in oblique lines descending from 



