266 



LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 



an egg, and all to be laid in the course of a few days — - 

 the contribution of one individual herring to the popula- 

 tion of the seas ! It would be no sinecure to count them; 

 but, partly by counting, partly by weighing, approxima- 

 tions have been made to a knowledge of the extent of a 

 fish's family. Six millions of eggs have been estimated 

 to lie in the roe of a single cod ! 



Now, of course, an immense proportion of this number 

 comes to nothing: perhaps three-fourths of these eggs are 

 devoured by other fishes, or voracious creatures of one 

 kind or other, almost before they well reach the bottom ; 

 and of the proportion that is hatched, multitudes find a 

 speedy termination of existence in the maw of their watch- 

 ful and numerous enemies. For, as a general rule, fishes 

 are universally carnivorous; every species preying with- 

 out mercy upon all others that it can master and swallow. 

 Some curious examples of this voracity are on record. 

 Mr Jesse speaks of a Pike, to which he threw in succes- 

 sion five Roach, each about four inches in length. " He 

 swallowed four of them, and kept the fifth in his mouth 

 for about a quarter of an hour, when it also disappeared." 

 At a lecture delivered before the Zoological Society of 

 Dublin, Dr Houston exhibited as " a fair sample of a fish's 

 breakfast," a Frog-fish, two feet and a half long: in the 

 stomach of which was a Cod-fish, two feet in length; the 

 Cod's stomach contained the bodies of two Whitings of 

 ordinary size; and the Whitings in their turn held the 

 half-digested remains of many smaller fishes, too much 

 broken up to be identified. 



" Harsh seems the ordinance, that life by life 

 Should be sustained ; and yet, when all must die, 



