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KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



be fatally poisonous. Opinions vary con- 

 cerning the aliment of gold fish ; however, it 

 is certain that they will consume bread with 

 apparent greediness ; and we know instances 

 where they have been fed in large ponds 

 for years, without any (seeming) bad results. 

 Now when confined within the limits of a 

 glass bowl, they should have their water 

 changed as often as possible, and they would 

 be all the better if removed into a larger 

 vessel every night. The whole of the carp 

 tribe have a dislike to unpleasant waters ; 

 they congregate most in clear runlets that 

 have been long undisturbed, and particu- 

 larly such as abound with aquatic plants. 

 Indeed, to such as delight in the golden 

 beauties, we would advise a consideration of 

 the peculiar formation of the fish for breath- 

 ing. An ingenious writer tells us, " that 

 the water sucked in by the mouth, and 

 vented by the gills, contributes a minute 

 portion of air, but enough to keep up the 

 circulation of the blood, and maintain life ; 

 if we were to tie up the gills, the fish would 

 be immediately suffocated." Hence, the 

 necessity of never allowing the Avater to re- 

 main until it is muddy. When the fish be- 

 come black, it is indicative of their spawn- 

 ing-time, and they should be placed in a 

 larger vessel of wood or stone for a time. 

 When this is not done, for want of room the 

 fishes are lost, and are (by many) ignorantly 

 supposed to have been black with disease. — 

 Leodiensis. 



[It is quite a mistake to let any crumbs of 

 bread be given to gold fish. The animalcules, 

 which abound in the water, if changed daily, 

 are their legitimate and only proper food.] 



LOVE OF OFFSPRING IN ANIMALS. 



It is highly important to observe, that 

 the satisfying of hunger, thirst, and the 

 various operations of nature, must not be 

 coufounded with instinct. They are only na- 

 tural wants, or functional operations, which 

 are not confined to particular times, and 

 which are equally common to man. As well 

 might it be said that, when fatigued, we sit 

 or lie down by instinct, or that we sleep, 

 cough, sneeze, hiccup, or cry when wounded, 

 by instinct. It is from such confused group- 

 ing that we have so many misconceptions 

 and false descriptions of it ; and our only 

 chance of correctness is, by applying our- 

 selves to discriminative separations. The love 

 of offspring is so scantily disseminated that 

 it seems to be, as a powerful instinct, almost 

 confined to the hatching birds. There it is 

 indeed seen in all its strength. For, besides 

 making the nest, there is the patient sitting, 

 and the vast labor of supplying the young 

 ones with food. Nor does the parent leave 

 them till they are fully able to provide for 



themselves ; and the male often assists, even 

 to take turn in sitting. It is very different 

 with the beasts, or the class mammalia. 

 The female feels her teats oppressed with 

 milk, and finds a relief in having it drawn 

 off ; but when that is accomplished, and the 

 young begin to look for other food, she 

 Avaxes indifferent ; and, if they tease her, 

 will, in some instances, even send them 

 aAvay Avith bloAvs. Thus her affection is ori- 

 ginally based on self-ease 1 — it arises from a 

 natural Avant, and it barely comes, at least 

 in some cases, within the precincts of in- 

 stinct. Noav let us glance at the rest of the 

 brute creation, and see what they are doing 

 in respect to love of offspring. Compara- 

 tively very little. The fishes, always re- 

 membering to exclude the Avhale, drop their 

 eggs or seed where convenient, or some- 

 times by instinct in a particular place, but, 

 after that, they take no further trouble about 

 them. Every one has heard the account of 

 the cod — that a single one has contained 

 three millions of eggs, and that, if they all 

 came to life, the sea Avould, in a short time, 

 be insufficient to contain them. But by far 

 the greatest part is devoured by other fishes ; 

 and what escapes and matures forms just an 

 adequate supply for the ordinary purposes. 

 Let us iioav turn to the innumerable tribes 

 of insects, and we shall find that love of 

 offspring is, Avith feAv exceptions, totally 

 unknoAvn to them. The female is indeed 

 generally guided by instinct, as to where to 

 lay her eggs ; but after that, her task is clone. 

 There are not many exceptions even among 

 the viviparous insects ; for the black beetle 

 has been observed to emit her young when 

 craAvling about, and they have immediately 

 run or rather rolled aAvay from the light, 

 Avithout her making any attempt to folloAV 

 them. If Ave look to the reptiles, Ave shall 

 find no love of offspring : for the serpents, 

 lizards, crocodiles, simply lay their eggs 

 AA T here the heat Avill vivify them, and never 

 mind them after ; and every one knoAvs that 

 the frog abandons her spaAvn to chance. 

 Even some birds that do not hatch are as in- 

 different concerning their eggs, and Avhat can 

 the roguish cuckoo knoAV about love of 

 offspring, Avhen it coolly evades all parental 

 cares, and stealthily uses the nest of some 

 other bird as a kind of foundling hospital ? 

 Birds have no instinct to recognise their oavii 

 eggs ; for the common hen will sit the usual 

 time on an oval piece of chalk, as Avas re- 

 marked by Addison about one hundred and 

 forty years ago, in one of his Spectators. 

 Perhaps I ought, in strict justice to the 

 cuckoo, to mention that its defenders allege, 

 that it never lays its eggs in the nest of any 

 bird except such as feeds on Avhat is con- 

 genial to the cuckoo. That it is impelledby 

 instinct, Ave can readily believe, — Gordonius. 



