OF FISHES IN GENERAL. 
1 9 
fj** mention, a method of taking fiQ.es ih the river 
^ UP °" this obfetvation. In the rigour of 
vvauer the fdhermen broke fmall holes through L ice. 
The fuffocating annuals inttandy crouded to the aperture 
m order to procure a iupply of air , and fo eager were 
they to obtain it, that rather than abandon the at 
tempt, they fuffered tliemfelves to be caught with the 
hand. 
. N ! Xt to the heceffity of breathing air, that of devour. 
lng I0 ° d ‘ eems to be the W.ft conifant and urgent in the 
uatuie of fifties.. Among them this appetite, both in 
J CUgt 1 8nd aVldlt J> fanis to furpafs thole limits which 
Nature has preferred to herfelfin the other orders of the 
anima ingdom. Every aquatic animal that has life, 
^ Is a viftim ,0 the indiferiminate voracity of one or 
' lt ° Ue The Smaller tribes devour infefts, 
worms, 0I - the tpawn of the reft of the tenants of the 
waters , while they, in their turn, are purfued by m ;j. 
nons larger and more rapacious than tliemfelves. A few 
of them leed upon mud, the aquatic plants or grains of 
corn , hut by far the greater numbers fubfill upon ani 
irial food alone ; and of this they are fo voracious, that 
they lpare not even thofe of their own kind*. Charr 
t ,P C ln " P° nd > lf fcan % lupplied, frequently devour 
. Z ° WU y ° Ung ' ° therS that are la ’-g er ’ g° in quell of 
• ger prey , it matters not of what kind, whether of 
another fpec.es, or of their own. Thofe with the moll capu- 
mouths, purfue almolt every thing that has life, 
ltih wl/i ? LCC eaEh ° ther m fielCe 0 PP°f ltion . when the 
J 1 h “ s «« too., comes off wide viflory, 
."1 devours its antagoniftf, J ' 
Thus 
* Willoughby, Ub, i. apf ^ 
t Coldfeiith, Nat. Hill. vol. vi. 
