Ca 
The End of Odd Fishes. 67 
of «which he pits his skill in arts of decegtion, whether with 
artificial fly, worm, spoon-bait, or what not, and regards the 
object of his pursuit only in reference to its value in the 
matter of size, or as to the sport it may afford. Should the 
successful angler, or anyone else, have the results of his 
day’s fishing set before him in quite another phase—one 
which appeals to his mind, vzé@ his palate, he probably then 
thinks little more of a fish than as something to be eaten, 
very delicious, and beyond all praise. To the ichthy- 
ologist, a fish, whether it leaps at the gandy fly, or swallows 
the tempting bait offered to lure it, as a sporting fish ought, 
or whether it be as toothsome and appetizing as the 
“venison of the sea,” or glorious red mullet, which made 
Quain desire a throat as long as Lombard street, and every 
inch a palate: in a word, be the fish’s qualities what they 
may, good, bad, or indifferent, to him, ichthyologically, it 
is only a cold-blooded animal, possessing a vertebra, gills 
instead of lungs; fins and scales in lieu of feet, fur, or 
feathers ; spending its life in the water, and developing its 
young from eggs. 
Under all three aspects, by all and every means, think 
of a fish, if your tastes and inclinations lead you, my 
young friends, so to do; but what I have sought to do in 
writing about “ odd fishes,” is to bring before you certain 
members of the scaly tribes, in which there are other 
qualities entitling them to every consideration, beyond 
those embodied in a strictly ichthyological, gastronomical, 
or piscatorial point of view; hoping thereby that you may 
be induced to dive deeper into the countless mysteries to 
be found in all God’s creatures, from the Diatom to the 
Elephant, if you will but look for them; to discover for 
yourselves the uses, as well as the structure of, unfamiliar 
appendages and anatomical peculiarities. Everything, 
depend upon it, has a use, and we may sit in the studio and 
think over it for an indefinite time,and after all be none 
the wiser; but ramble into the haunts and home of the 
beast, or whatsoever form of life it may be that so puzzles 
you, play the spy upon its action, learn its habits, and it 
will aid you more, even though only a few days be devoted 
to such observations, than will whole years of indoor study. 
Who, I ask, would ever have given a fish credit for being 
the embodiment of a home-loving, nest-building, egg- 
Carrying creature, discharging every parental duty in a 
highly exemplary and praiseworthy manner, unless our 
finny friends had been visited when at home, or, better, 
