8 
INTRODUCTION. 
an hour, yet a large fish would soon overtake her, and 
swim around her as though she did not move. 
Fishes in general are exceedingly voracious. Those 
of the larger kind pursue and destroy the smaller in great 
numbers. As a counterbalance to this, fish are incredi- 
bly prolific. Naturalists declare that the mackerel pro- 
duces five hundred thousand eggs, the flounder about 
one million, and the cod above nine millions, in one 
season. 
Fishes are divided by naturalists into the following 
orders ; viz. cetaceous , cartilaginous , spinous , and testa- 
ceous. 
Cetaceous fish bring forth their young alive, as the 
whale. Cartilaginous fish have soft bones, like cartilage, 
as the shark. Spinous fish have hard bones, with sharp 
spines or points, as the pike, roach, perch, &c. They 
constitute more than three fourths of the finny tribe 
Testaceous fish have shells, as the oyster and clam. 
Those with soft shells, as the crab and lobster, are usually 
termed crustaceous. 
4. SERPENTS and REPTILES. This class are am- 
phibious, and live, many of them, equally well in water 
and upon land. Serpents have neither fins, ears, nor feet, 
and their jaws are dilatable and not articulated. The 
head joins immediately to the body, and the jaws are so 
expansible that they can swallow prey many times thicker 
than themselves. In general, their color is exceedingly 
varied and beautiful. About one sixth of the species are 
poisonous 
