2 THE IMPORTANCE OF 



names, but with their increase, we have not a 

 corresponding knowledge of the habits and char- 

 acter of the marine inhabitants. Linnaeus has 

 given names to upwards of four hundred species ; 

 yet it is probable that the recesses of the fathom- 

 less sea contain a great variety of tribes never 

 seen by man. Imagination has frequently been 

 busy in tenanting these unexplored regions with 

 unreal creations, and superstition has exercised 

 her inventive faculties to impose a belief in their 

 existence, on credulous and inexperienced minds. 



It would be an agreeable employment to enter 

 into a detail of the interesting facts connected 

 with this branch of Natural History. It would 

 afford a rich gratification to the inquiring mind, 

 to discover the singular adaptation to its state of 

 existence, which is to be found in this class of 

 animated nature, and to witness the order and 

 beauty which here, as well as elsewhere, is 

 stamped upon the works of the Almighty. 



The object, however, in this introductory part 

 of the following work, is rather more of a prac- 

 tical nature, than an examination of the history 

 of the marine tribes ; rather to exhibit the im- 

 portance of the fisheries as a matter of sound 

 political economy, than to enter upon the sub- 

 ject with the enthusiasm which would be felt 

 alone by the man of science, — to show how 



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