OF FISHES IN GENERAL, 
3 * 
the large filb in the deep water. Such as ft ill furvive', 
are fufticient for fupplying the ocean with inhabitants ; 
and of thefe, notwithftanding their own rapacity, and 
that of the aquatic fowls and terreftrial animals, enough 
is left to relieve the wants of a great portion of the hu- 
man race. Thus, two important purpofes are anfwered 
in the economy of Nature by the extraordinary fecundi- 
ty of fillies : it preferves the fpecies amidll numberlefs 
enemies, and ferves to furnilh the reft with a fuftenancc 
adapted to their nature *, 
Among terreftrial animals, there are various degrees of 
fertility, according to their chance of deltruCtion, from 
the want of courage, bulk, or ftrength : The largeft are 
always leaft productive, and the fmaller are more proli- 
fic, in proportion as the dangers increafe, to which they 
are cxpofed f. The fame obfervation may be extended 
to the inhabitants of the ocean : Among thefe, as the ce- 
taceous filh refemble quadrupeds in their habits and con- 
formation, fo they are diftinguilhed by a fimilar degree 
of fterility. All the whales, and even the cartilaginous 
fifties, are not, perhaps, fuperior to terreftrial animals in 
their powers of production. Among the hungry and 
heedlefs inhabitants of the fea, they are diftinguilhed by 
finer organs and higher fenfations. Their fize and cou- 
rage place them, in a great meafure, beyond the reach 
of danger ; they nurfc their young with tendernefs and 
aftiduity, and they protect them from injury with an ob- 
ftinate intrepidity little inferior to that of the lion or the 
eagle. Hence the number of their young is few, pro- 
portioned to the dangers to which they areexpofed : A- 
midftt 
• Gojdfmith’s Nat. Hid. vol. VI. 
t Buffon’s Hid. generate et particulaire, tome 16. 
