24 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



and violent concussions, which, will frequently destroy 

 them in large numbers. To one of these causes may 

 probably be attributed the destruction of tons of fish on 

 the shores of America in the spring of 1877, the outburst 

 of a subterranean volcano, or subterranean earthquake, 

 being a sufficient reason for the phenomenon. In the 

 reign of Charles X., an explosion of gunpowder on the 

 banks of the Seine destroyed quantities of fish for a long 

 way up and down the river ; and we know that rascally 

 poachers in the north and other parts of the kingdom 

 now employ dynamite in their nefarious pursuits, showing 

 that a violent concussion of the water (and perhaps in 

 some cases, compression) is "death to the fish." What 

 will happen in the case of a great war in which torpedoes 

 are freely used is something terrible to contemplate in 

 connexion with the poor fish, and it is to be hoped, if 

 only on their account, the Anti-Torpedo Society just 

 established will get this instrument of war abolished from 

 the " civilized " list of lawful " engines." 



This is what Gilbert White, in his most pleasant 

 Natural History of Selbome, says of the Death of Fish, 

 " As soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks lower 

 and lower, and it stands as it were on its head ; till, 

 getting weaker and losing all power, the tail turns over, 

 and at last it floats on the surface of the water with its 

 belly uppermost. The reason why fishes, when dead, 

 swim in that manner, is verj' obvious : because when the 

 body is no longer balanced by the fins of the belly, the 

 broad muscular back preponderates by its own gravity, 

 and turns the belly uppermost, as lighter, from its being 

 a cavity, and because it contains the swimming-bladders, 

 which contribute to render it buoyant." 



