168 
NATURAL, HISTORY. 
breed in, however artfully disposed for supplying them with 
fresh recruits of water, as well as provision. In some sea- 
sons also they are found to feel epidemic disorders, and are 
seen dead by the water side, without any apparent cause. 
The fact of some fishes in warm climates being poisonous 
when eaten, cannot be doubted. We have a paper in the 
Philosophical Transactions, -giving an account of the poi- 
sonous qualities of those found at New Providence, one of 
the Bahama islands. The author there assures us, that the 
greatest part of the fish of that dreary coast are all of a 
deadly nature : their smallest effects being to bring on a 
terrible pain in the joints, which, if terminating favourably, 
leaves the patient without any appetite for several days after. 
It is not those of the most deformed figure, or the most 
frightful to look at, that are alone to be dreaded; all kinds, 
at different times, are alike dangerous ; and the same species 
which has this day served for nourishment, is the next, if 
tried, found to be fatal. 
As this order of fishes is extremely numerous, various 
modes of classing them have been invented by different 
naturalists. The simplest is that of Linnaeus, who ranks 
them in four divisions, according to the position of the fins. 
The first division is what that celebrated naturalist terms 
Apodal, This includes the most imperfect of the order, 
viz. those which want the ventral or belly Jins (as the wolf 
fish), and consists of the following genera. 
The Eel is the first genus of this division, and includes 
several species. 
The common eel is a very singular fish in several things 
that relate to its natural history, and in some respects bor- 
ders on the nature of the reptile tribe. 
It is known to quit its element, and, during night, to 
wander along the meadows, not only for change of habita- 
tion, but also for the sake of prey, feeding on the snails it 
finds in its passage. 
During winter, it beds itself deep in the mud, and conti- 
nues in a state of rest like the serpent kind. It is very im- 
patient of cold, and will eagerly take shelter in a wisp of 
straw Hung into a pond in severe weather, which hassome- 
t mes been practised as a method of taking them. Albertus 
goes so far as to say, that he has known eels to shelter in a 
iiay-rick, yet all perished through excess of cold. 
It has been observed, that in the river Nyne there is a 
variety of small eel, with a lesser head and narrower mouth 
than the common kind ; that it is found in clusters in the 
