F I S 
F I S 
732 
is to be lamented that the number of such 
poor livings is so great, that this bounty, ex- 
tensive as it is, will be slow, and almost im- 
perceptible in its operation ; the number of 
livings under 50/. certified by the bishops, at 
the commencement of the undertaking, being 
5597, the revenues of which, on a general 
average, did not exceed 2 31. per annum. 
Black. 285, 286. 
FISC, in the civil law, the treasury of a 
prince. It differs from the aerarium, which 
was the treasury of the public or people: 
thus, when the money arising from the sale 
of condemned persons’ goods was appropri- 
ated for the use of the public, their goods 
were said publicari; but when it' was des- 
tined for the support of the prince, they 
were called confiseari. 
FISCAL, in the civil law, something re- 
lating to the pecuniary interest of the prince 
or people. The officers appointed for the 
management of the fisc, were called procu- 
rator*^ fisci, and advocati fisci ; and among 
the cases enumerated in the constitutions of 
the empire, where it was their business to 
plead, one is against those who have been con- 
demned to pay a fine to the fisc on account 
of their litigiousness, or frivolous appeals. 
FISK , in natural history, constitutes a class 
of animals which have no feet, but always 
fins ; add t® this, that their body is either 
altogether naked, or only covered with 
scales ; and that they are aquatic animals, 
which live mostly, if afot always in water. 
They form the 4th class of animals in the 
Xinnaean system, and are divided into six 
orders, viz. the apodes, the jugulares, the 
thoracici, the abdominales, the branchios- 
tegous, and chrondropterygious. See Na- 
tural History, Pisces, &c. The ani- 
mals included in this class are always inha- 
bitants of the waters ; are swift in their mo- 
tions, and voracious in their appetites. They 
breathe by means of gills, which are general- 
ly united by a bony arch, swim by means of 
radiate fins, and are mostly covered with car- 
tilaginous scales. Besides the parts which 
they have in common with other animals, 
they are furnished with a nictitant mem- 
brane, and most of them with an air-bladder, 
by the contraction and dilatation of which, 
they can raise or sink themselves at plea- 
sure. They destitute of eyelids, exter- 
nal ears, neck, arms and legs. Their food is 
mucus, insects, dead bodies, lesser sea-fish, 
and sea-plants. ' 
The generic character is taken from the 
shape of the body, covering, structure, figure, 
and parts of the head ; but principally from 
the branchiostegous membrane. The spe- 
cific character is taken from the cirri, jaws, 
fins, spines, lateral lines, digitated append- 
ages, tail and colour. The age of fishes is 
known by numbering the concentric circles 
in a transverse section of the backbone, or 
the concentric circles on the scales. The 
characters of the six orders are, (1.) apodal, 
without ventral fins : (2.) jugular, ventral fins 
before the pectoral : (3.) thoracic, ventral 
fins under the pectoral : (4.) abdominal, ven- 
tral tins behind the pectoral : (5.) branchios- 
tegous, gills destitute of bony -rays : (6.) 
chondropterygious, gills cartilaginous. These 
two latter orders Linux us refers to the class 
amphibia nantes ; so that in fact he admits 
of only 4 orders : under these lie enumerates 
189 genera, and about 400 species. 
Fish, Any person may erect a fish-pond 
without licence ; because it is a matter of 
profit, and for the increase of victuals. 2 Inst. 
199. 
Concerning the right and property of fish, 
it lias been held, that where the lord of the 
manor has the soil on both sides of the river, 
it is good evidence that he has the light of 
fishing ; but where the river ebbs and flows, 
and is an arm of the sea, there it is common 
(o all, and he who claims a privilege to him- 
self must prove it. In the Severn, the soil 
belongs to the owners of the land, on each 
side ; and the soil of the river Thames is in 
the king, &c. but the fishing is common to all. 
1 Mod. 105. 
Any person who shall unlawfully break, 
cut, or destroy, any head or dam of a fish- 
pond, or wrongfully fish therein, with intent 
to take or kill fish, shall on conviction at the 
suit of the king, or of the party, at the assizes 
or sessions, be imprisoned three months, and 
pay treble damages, and after the expiration 
of the three months, shall find sureties for his 
good behaviour for seven years, or remain in 
prison till he does. 5 Eliz. c. 21. 
If any person shall enter into any park or 
paddock, fenced in and enclosed, or into 
any garden, orchard, or yard, adjoining or 
belonging to any dwelling-house, in or 
through which park or paddock, garden, or- 
chard, or yard, any stream of water shall 
run, or wherein shall be any river, stream, 
pond, pool, moat, stew, or other water, and 
by 'any means or device whatsoever, shall 
steal, take, kill, or destroy, any fish bred or 
kept in it, without the consent of the owner, 
or shall be aiding therein, or shall receive or 
buy any such fish, knowing them to be so 
stolen or taken as aforesaid, and shall be con- 
victed thereof at the assizes, within six ca- 
lendar months after the offence shall be com- 
mitted, he shall be transported for seven 
years. And any offender, surrendering him- 
self to a justice, or being apprehended or in 
custody for such offence, or on any other 
account, who shall make confession {hereof, 
and a true discovery on oath of his accom- 
plice or accomplices, so that such accomplice 
may be apprehended, and shall on trial give 
evidence, so as to convict such accomplices, 
shall be discharged of the offence, so by him 
confessed. 
And if any person shall take, kill, or de- 
stroy, or attempt to take, kill, or destroy, 
any fish in any river, or stream, pond, pool, 
or other water, (not in any park or paddock, 
or in any garden, orchard, or yard, adjoin- 
ing or belonging to any dwelling-house, but 
in any other inclosed ground, being private 
property) he shall, on conviction before one 
justice, on the oath of one witness, forfeit 5l. 
to the owner of the fishery of such river, 
pond, or other water ; and such justice, on 
complaint upon oath, may issue his warrant 
to bring the person complained of before 
him ; and if he shall be convicted before such 
justice, or any other of the county or place, 
he shall immediately pay the said penalty of 
5/. to such justice, for the use of the person, 
as the same is appointed to be paid unto ; 
and in default thereof, shall be committed by 
such justice to the house of correction, for 
any time not exceeding six months, unless 
the forfeiture shall be sooner paid : or such 
owner of the fishery may, within six calendar 
F I S 
months after the offence, bring an action for 
the penalty in any of the courts of record at 
Westminster. 5 G. III. c. 14. 
Fish, in a ship, a plank or piece of timber, 
fastened to a ship’s mast or yard to strengthen 
it, which is done by nailing it on with iron 
spikes, and woulding or winding ropes hard 
about them. 
Fish, royal, these are whale and sturgeon, 
which the king is entitled to, when either are 
thrown on shore, or caught near the coasts. 
Plowd. 315. 
Fishes, in heraldry, are the emblems of 
silence and watchfulness, and are borne ci- 
ther upright, embowed, extended, endorsed 
respecting each other, surmounting one ano- 
ther, fretted, See. In blazoning fishes, those 
borne feeding, should be termed devouring ; 
all fishes borne upright and having fins’ 
should be blazoned hauriant ; and those borne 
transverse the escutcheon, must be termed 
naiant. 
Fish-ponds, those made for the breeding 
or feeding of fish. 
Fish-ponds are no small improvement of 
watery and boggy lands, many of which are 
lit for no other use. In making of a pond, 
its head should be at the lowest part of the 
ground, that the trench of the flood-gate or 
sluice, having a good fall, may not be too 
long in emptying. The best way of making 
the head secure, is to drive in two or three 
rows of stakes above six feet long, at about 
four feet distance from each other, the whole 
length of the pond-head, of which the first 
row should be rammed at least about four 
feet deep. If the bottom is false, the foun- 
dation may be laid with quicklime, which 
slacking, will make it as hard as a stone. 
Some lay a layer of lime, and another of 
earth dug out of the pond, among the piles 
and stakes; and when these are well cover- 
ed, drive in others, as they see occasion, 
ramming in the earth as before, till the pond- 
head is of the height designed. 
The dam should be made sloping on each 
side, leaving a waste to carry off the over- 
abundance of water in times of Hoods or 
rains ; and as to the depth of the pond, the 
deepest part need not exceed six feet, risino- 
gradually in shoals towards the sides, for 
the fish to sun themselves, and lay their 
spawn. Gravelly and sandy bottoms, espe- 
cially the latter, are best for breeding ; and 
a fat soil, with a white fat water, as the wash- 
ings of hills, commons, streets, sinks, &c. is 
best for fattening all sorts of fish. For stor- 
ing a pond, carp is to be preferred for its 
quick growth, and great increase, as bleed- 
ing five or six times a year ; but tench for 
its goodness. 
The quantity of fish to be supplied obvi- 
ously depends upon the quantity of water, 
which should be divided, where it covenl- 
ently can, into five ponds. 
Number 5 is intended for breeding, and 
should be double or treble the, size of any of 
the other ponds. Or if this be inconvenient 
there may lie two for this purpose. This pond 
may likewise be the most distant from the 
house. If the breeding-pond should fail to 
answer this purpose, it will at least serve as a 
conservatory for fish of small size, to be ob- 
tained elsewhere: and indeed, fresh stores 
in any case will be found desirable. The 
contents of this pond in carp and tench, or 
