OF SELBORNE, 
269 
LETTER LIV. 
TO THE SAME. 
DEAR SIR, 
W HEN I happen to vifit a family where ^o/i and filver jijloes are 
kept in a glafs bowl, I am always pleafed with the occurrence, 
becaufe it offers me an opportunity of obferving the adlions and 
propenfities of thofe beings with whom we can be little acquainted 
in their natural ftate. Not long fince I fpent a fortnight at the 
houfe of a friend where there was fuch a vhvary, to which 1 paid 
no fmall attention, taking every occafion to remark what paffed 
within it's narrow limits. It was here that I firft obferved the 
manner in which fifhes die. As foon as the creature fickens, the 
head finks lower and lower, and it ftands as it were on it's head ; 
till, getting weaker, and loling all poife, the tail turns over, and 
at lad it floats on the furface of the water with it's belly uppemiofc. 
The reafon why fiflies, when dead, fwim in that manner is very 
obvious ; becaufe, when the body is no longer balanced by the 
fms of the belly, the broad mufcular back preponderates by it's 
own gravity, and turns the belly uppermoft, as lighter from it's 
being a cavity, and becaufe it contains the fwimming-bladders, 
which contribute to render it buoj'ant. Some that delight in gold 
and Jiher fipes have adopted a notion that they need no aliment. 
True it is that they will fubfift for a long time without any apparent 
food but what they can collect from pure water frequently changed ; 
yet they muft draw fome fupport from animalcula, and other 
noui'iftmenc 
