THE next kind of fishes that migrate for the purpose of spawning, which I shall notice, is one, which though it falls far behind the sturgeons in size, exceeds them infinitely in numbers and dispersion, and in the vast supply of food with which it furnishes the human race; it will readily be seen that I am speaking of the Cod-fish. This valuable animal belongs to the class of fishes with a bony skeleton, and the tribe of Jugulars, (Lat. jugulum, the collar bone,) or those whose ventral (Lat. venter, the belly,) fins are nearer the mouth than the pectoral, (Lat. pectus, the breast). It frequents shallows and sandbanks, between the fortieth and sixtieth degrees of North Latitude, both in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where it is taken in infinite numbers, The fishery for it employs both European and American seamen and vessels in abundance. The most celebrated is that on the great bank of Newfoundland, where thousands of men are employed in catching, salting, and barreling these fish, and whence they are dispersed principally into the Catholic countries, where they form a considerable portion of the food of the people, especially during Lent and other fasts. The cod-fish makes for the coast at spawning time, going northward, this takes place towards the end of winter or the beginning of spring. Leeuwenhoek1 counted more than nine millions of eggs in a cod-fish of the middle size; allowing for a large consumption by other fishes which devour them, still enough are left, that when hatched produce a superabundant supply. They are deposited in the inequalities of the bottom amongst the stones. The herring, to which I now allude, belongs to the tribe called abdominal fishes, or those whose ventral fins are behind the pectoral, and may be said to inhabit the arctic seas of Europe, Asia, and America, from whence they annually migrate, at different times, in search of food and to deposit their 1 Leeuwenhoek, a celebrated Dutch natural philosopher, born at Delft in Holland, 1632, died 1723. He devoted all his attention to microscopic researches. t spawn. Their shoals consist of millions of myriads, and are many leagues in width, many fathoms in thickness, and so dense that the fishes touch each other; they are preceded, at the interval of some days, by insulated males. The largest and strongest are said to lead the shoals, which seem to move in a certain order, and to divide into bands as they proceed, visiting the shores of various islands and countries, and enriching their inhabitants. Their presence and progress are usually indicated by various sea-birds, sharks, and other enemies. One of the cartilaginous fishes, the sea-ape, is said to accompany them constantly, and is thence called the king of the herrings. They throw off also a kind of oily or slimy substance, which extends over their columns, and is easily seen in calm weather. This substance in gloomy still nights, exhibits a phosphoric light, as if a cloth, a little luminous, was spread over the sea. Some conjecture may be formed of the infinite numbers of these invaluable fishes that are taken by European nations from what Lacepede1 relates-that in Norway twenty millions have been taken at a single fishing, that there are few years that they do not capture four hundred millions, and that at Gottenburgh and its vicinity seven hundred millions are annually taken; "but what are these millions," he remarks, "to the incredible numbers that go to the share of the English, Dutch, and other European nations?" Migrations of these fishes are stated to take place at three different times. The first when the ice begins to melt, which continues to the end of June; then succeeds that of the summer, followed by the autumnal one, which lasts till the middle of September. They seek places for spawning, where stones and marine plants abound, against which they rub themselves alternately on each side, all the while moving their fins with great rapidity. According to Lacepede, William Deukelzoon, a fisherman of Biervliet, in Dutch Flanders, was the first person who salted herrings, this was before the end of the fourteenth century; others attribute this invention to William Benckels or Benkelings of Bierulin. To show his sense of the importance of this invention the Emperor Charles V.2 is stated to have visited his tomb, and 1 Lacepede, a French philosopher, born 1756, died 1825. 2 Charles V. Emperor of Germany, King of Spain and of the two Sicilies, born 1500, died 1588. to have eaten a herring upon his grave. The smoking of this valuable fish, we are told, was first practised by the inhabitants of Dieppe in Normandy. Kirby's Bridgewater Treatise. 1. In what respects does the cod-fish exceed the sturgeon? 2. To what class of fishes does it belong? 3. Describe the tribe of fishes called Jugulars. 4. Where are they found in vast numbers? 5. Where is the most celebrated codfishery? 6. In what direction, and when, does this fish make for the coast? 7. Who was Leeuwenhoek? 8. What number of eggs found he in a cod-fish? 9. To what tribe does the herring belong? 10. What scas do they inhabit? 11. For what purpose do they migrate? 12. What about the shoals, as to numbers, extent, and manner of proceeding? 13. How do their presence and progress become known? 14. What fish is called king of the herrings? 15. Describe the oily substance they throw off. 16. State facts that show the infinite number of herrings. 17. State the times of the three migrations of these fish. 18. Who are said to have first salted herrings? 19. What about the Emperor Charles V., and the salting of herrings? 20. Who creates these vast numbers of fishes, and brings them to our doors? 21. Are not the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, strikingly manifested in this matter? I shall now confine my observations principally to the king, as it may be called, of the river migrators,-the Salmon. In our own country this noble fish is too high-priced to form a general article of food, and may be reckoned amongst the luxuries of the rich man's table; but in others, especially amongst some of the North-western American tribes, they are gifts of Providence, which form their principal food at all seasons. One, which Sir George Mackenzie fell in with, in his journey from Canada to the Pacific, were perfect Ichthyophagites, and would touch no other animal food. These people construct, with great labour and ingenuity, across their streams, salmon weirs, which are formed with timber and gravel, and elevated nearly four feet above the level of the water; beneath, machines are placed, into which the salmon fall when they attempt to leap over the weir. On either side is a large frame of timber-work, six feet above the level of the upper water, in which passages are left for the salmon, leading into the machines. When they catch their salmon they string them and suspend them, at first, in the river. The women are employed in preparing and curing these fish; for this purpose they appear to roast them first, and then suspend them on the poles that run along the beams of their houses, in which there are usually from three to five hearths, the heat and smoke from which contribute, no doubt, to their proper curing. The salmon, indeed, frequents every sea, the arctic as well as the equatorial; it is found even in great lakes and inland seas, as the Caspian, into which it is even affirmed to make its way by a subterranean channel from the Persian Gulf— it goes as far south as New Holland and the Australian seas; but it is said never to have been found in the Mediterranean, and appears to have been unknown to Aristotle.1 Pliny2 mentions it as a river fish, preferred to all marine ones by the inhabitants of Gaul. It traverses the whole length of the largest rivers. It reaches Bohemia by the Elbe, Switzerland by the Rhine, and the Cordilleras of America by the mighty Maragnon, or River of Amazons, whose course is more than three thousand miles. In temperate climates the salmon quits the sea early in the spring, when the waves are driven by a strong wind against the river currents. It enters the rivers of France in the beginning of the autumn, in September; and in Kamtchatka and North America still later. In some countries this is called the salmon-wind. They rush into rivers that are freest from ice, or where they are carried by the highest tide, favoured by the wind; they prefer those streams that are most shaded. They leave the sea in numerous bands, formed with great regularity. The largest individual, which is usually a female, takes the lead, and is followed by others of the same sex, two and two, each pair 1 Aristotle, the great philosopher, born at Stagyra in Macedonia, B.C. 384, in the same year as the Athenian Orator Demosthenes; they died in the same year, B.C. 322. To him was committed the education of Alexander the Great. 2 Pliny The Elder, a celebrated Roman scholar, born A.D. 23, at Como. He was killed in an eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79. His "Natural History," is still extant. being at the distance of from three to six feet from the preceding one; next come the old, and after them the young males in the same order. The noise they make in their transit, heard from a distance, sounds like a far off storm. In the heat of the sun and in tempests, they keep near the bottom; at other times they swim a little below the surface. In fair weather they move slowly, sporting as they go at the surface, and wandering again and again from their direct route; but when alarmed they dart forward with such rapidity that the eye can scarcely follow them. They employ only three months in ascending to the sources of the Maragnon, the current of which is remarkably rapid, which is at the rate of nearly forty miles a day; in a smooth stream or lake their progress would increase in a fourfold ratio. Their tail is a very powerful organ, and its muscles have wonderful energy; by placing it in their mouth they make of it a very elastic spring, for, letting it go with violence, they raise themselves in the air to the height of from twelve to fifteen feet, and so clear the cataract that impedes their course; if they fail in fat attempt, they continue their offer Q 0112 Diy μωτο αυτυπιμον female is stated to hollow out a long and deep excavation in the gravelly bed of the river to receive her spawn, and when deposited to cover it up, but this admits of some doubt. Kirby's Bridgewater Treatise. 1. What is the salmon here called? 2. Is the salmon a general article of food in this country? 3. What people live chiefly on these fish? 4. How do the people mentioned by Sir G. Mackenzie catch the salmon ? 5. Is the salmon very generally distributed? 6. How is it said to find its way into the Caspian? 7. In what sea has it not been found? 8. By what streams does it reach Bohemia, Switzerland, the Cordilleras? 9. What is the length of the Amazon? 10. When does the salmon quit the sea in temperate climates? 11. When does it enter the rivers of France ? 12. Which streams are preferred by it? 13. Describe the order in which the bands of salmon proceed. 14. How do they swim in warm and stormy weather, and how in fair weather? 15. How long do they take to ascend the Maragnon? 16. If they meet a cataract, or other obstruction, how do they act? 17. How are they said to use their tails when overleaping impediments? 18. Where is it said the female deposits her spawn? IX.-ON THE SAGACITY OF THE SPIDER. |