■ SPINOUS FISHES. 
*55 
The firft peculiarity that ftrikes us, with regard to the 
fifties of the fpinous order, is the greatnefs of their num- 
bers. Not only are the individuals of each family more 
numerous ; but the variety of the kinds is alfo far greater. 
‘Jpwards of four hundred different fpecies of fpinous 
fillies are already known and deferibed ; while the ceta- 
ceous and cartilaginous orders, when taken together, 
hardly amount to a fifth of that number *. The former, 
are in general inferior in fize ; and it is conformable to a 
law, which obtains in every department of the animal 
kingdom, that the fmaller the productions of nature are, 
the more numerous and diverfified in form does £he yield 
them. A very valuable purpofe in the economy of pro- 
vidence, is gained by this conflitution of the animal 
'kingdom ; for, fince the fmaller tribes are in general de- 
fiined to become the prey of the larger, an adequate pro- 
rifion 13 made for the fupply of every kind ; none en- 
tirely perifhes through want ; none is ultimately extir- 
pated by depredation. 
It is by the numbers, therefore, of the fpinous fillies 
that the other orders are preferred, and their own perpe- 
trated. In them, as we have already oblerved, genera- 
tor is performed, not by producing a living animal, or 
V hatching a diftinctegg, but by fpawning innumerable 
0v a, that are quickened into life by the heat of the fun, 
a nd are deftined to fupply the annual wafte of millions, 
fiance the powers of fecundity in this order, exceed be- 
ksf, and in a iliort fpftce defy calculation. A fingle her- 
* ln S> if fuffered to multiply unmolelled, and undiminiihed 
k’r twenty years, would lliew a progeny greater in bulk, 
k ‘ian the globe itfelf f . It is owing to this exube- 
V°l. in. rant 
^rinaeus has four hunded fpinous filhes. 
* ^“Wfluith fays above ten times greater, Nat. Hift, vol, vi. page ’jy. 
