CHAPTEE I. 



FISH LIFE AND GROWTH. 



Classification of Fish — Tlieir Form and Colour — Mode and Means of Life 

 — Curiously-shaped Fish — Senses of Smell and Hearing in Fish — Fish 

 nearly Insensible to Pain — The Fecundity of Fish — Sexual Instinct of 

 Fish — External Impregnation of the Ova — Ripening of a Salmon Egg 

 — Birth of a Herring — The Eich versus the Poor Man's Fish — Curious 

 Stories ahout the Growth of the Bel — All that is known ahout the 

 Mackerel — ^Whitebait — Mysterious Fish : the Vendace and the Powan 

 — Where are the Haddocks ? — The Food of Pish — Fish as a rule not 

 Migratory — The Growth of Fish Shoals — ^When Fish are good for 

 Food — The Balancing Power of Nature. 



Fish form the fourth class of vertebrate animals, and, as a 

 general rule, live in water ; although in Ceylon and India 

 species are found that live in the earth, or, at any rate, that 

 exist in mud, not to speak of others said to occupy the trees of 

 those countries ! The classification of fishes given by Ouvier is 

 usually adopted. He has divided these animals into those with 

 true bones, and those having a cartilaginous structure ; the former, 

 again, being divided into acanthopterous and malcopterous fish. 

 Other naturalists have adopted more elaborate classifications ; 

 but Cuvier's being the simplest has a strong claim to be con- 

 sidered the best, and is the one generally used. 



A fish breathes by means of its gills, and progresses chiefly 

 by means of its taU. This animal is admirably adapted for pro- 

 gressing through the water, as may be seen from its form, and 

 fish ai'e exceedingly beautiful, both as regards shape and colour. 

 There are comparatively few persons, however, who have an 

 opportunity of seeLag them at the moment of their greatest 

 brOliancy, which is just when they are brought out of the 

 water. I allude more particularly to some of our sea fish — as 

 the herring, mackerel, etc. The power of a fish to take on the 



