114 
MACKAREL MIDGE. 
the beauty and complexity of its structure serve well to illus- 
trate the creative energy of that Being, who is as great in the 
small as in the most conspicuous, and who renders all thino's 
pel feet that proceed from Jlis hand. Yet not such appears to 
have been the opinion of some natui-alists, who, from the minute 
size of this species, could not persuade themselves that it was 
other than some early stage of existence of some unknown larger 
fish. It was again a similar cast of thought that led the older 
natuialists to believe that apparently these and some others of 
small size, which appeared at times in vast numbers, were 
produced by spontaneous generation from the froth of the sea 
or the putrefaction of marine substances, and not from eggs 
like the larger, and as they judged, more elaborate kinds; on 
which account they bestowed on them the name of Apua. 
But however small, this species is far from being the least 
useful of the natives of the ocean; for, as the prey of other 
fishes, it helps to form a powerful attraction which draws many 
of the wandering and more valuable kinds within the reach 
of human effort, and hy so doing afford eniplovmcnt and 
subsistence to large numbers of people, who know nothino- 
of that economy of providence by which their wants are 
abundantly supplied. The Mackarcl Midge is widely dispersed 
over the Atlantic Ocean, for it is recognised by Nilsson among 
the fishes of the Northern Sea, and through the kindness of Mr. 
Higgins I have received examjiles from the bay of Chesapeake 
ill Aineiica. On our own coasts they perforin a sort of migration, 
or rather change of quarters; which appears to be chiefly from 
the deeper to the shallow water, and from the bottom to the 
surface. They are not recorded as presenting themselves to 
the notice of fishermen generally until about the middle of 
May; after which time they often abound at all distances from 
land to which fishermen are accustomed to proceed; and it is 
only late in autumn that they cease to be seen. Through the 
warmer seasons of the year they keep close to the surface 
in small companies, and hi stormy weather it is common for them 
to be thrown on board a fisherman’s boat from the crest of a 
wave when it breaks over the gunwale, or perhaps on the beach 
entangled i* sea-weed. As if conscious of danger from every 
prowling inhabitant of the deep, these fishes are ever ready to 
seek the shelter of a floating object; and they appear to feel 
