Amongst the migrations of fishes, I must not neglect those that take
place in consequence of the water in the ponds or pools that they inhabit
being dried up: some of these are very extraordinary, and prove that when
the Creator gave being to these animals, he foresaw the circumstances in
which they would be placed, and mercifully provided them with means of
escape from dangers to which they were necessarily exposed.
In very dry summers, the fishes that inhabit the above situations
are reduced often to the last extremities, and endeavour to relieve
themselves by plunging, first their heads, and afterwards their whole
bodies, in the mud to a considerable depth; and so, though many in such
seasons perish, some are preserved till a rainy one again supplies them
with the element so indispensable to their life. Carp, it is known, may
be kept and fed a very long time in nets in a damp cellar, a faculty
which fits them for retaining their vitality when they bury themselves at
such a depth as to shelter them from the heat.
But others, when reduced to this extremity, desert their native pool,
and travel in search of another that is better supplied with water.
This has long been known of eels, which wind, by night, through the
grass in search of water, when so circumstanced. Dr Hancock, in the
Zoological Journal, gives an account of a species of fish called by the
Indians the Flat-head Hassar, and belonging to a genus of the family
of the Siluridans, which is instructed by its Creator, when the pools
in which they commonly reside in very dry seasons lose their water, to
take the resolution of marching by land in search of others in which
the water is not evaporated. These fish grow to about the length of a
foot, and travel in large droves with this view; they move by night, and
their motion is said to be like that of the two-footed lizard. A strong
serrated arm constitutes the first ray of its pectoral fin. Using this as
a kind of foot, it should seem they push themselves forwards by means of
their elastic tail, moving nearly as fast as a man will leisurely walk.
The strong plates which envelope their body probably facilitate their
progress in the same manner as those under the body of serpents, which
in some degree perform the office of feet. It is affirmed by the Indians
that they are furnished with an internal supply of water sufficient for
their journey, which seems confirmed by the circumstance that their
bodies when taken out of the water, even if wiped dry with a cloth,
become instantly moist again. Mr Campbell, a friend of Dr Hancock’s,
resident in Essequibo, once fell in with a drove of these animals, which
were so numerous that the Indians filled several baskets with them.
Another migrating fish was found by thousands in the ponds and all the
fresh waters of Carolina, by Bosc; and as these pools are subject to
be dry in summer, the Creator has furnished this fish, as well as one
of the flying ones, by means of a membrane which closes its mouth,
with the faculty of living out of water, and of travelling by leaps to
discover other pools. Bosc often amused himself with their motions when
he had placed them on the ground, and he found that they always direct
themselves towards the nearest water, which they could not possibly
see, and which they must have discovered by some internal index; during
their migrations they furnish food to numerous birds and reptiles. They
belong to a genus of abdominal fishes, and are called swampines. It is
evident from this statement that these fishes are both fitted by their
Creator not only to exist, but also move along out of the water, and are
directed by the instinct implanted by Him to seek the nearest pool that
contains that element; thus furnishing a strong proof of what are called
compensating contrivances; neither of these fishes have legs, yet the one
can walk and the other leap without them, by other means with which the
Supreme Intelligence has endowed it. I may here observe that the serrated
bone, or first ray of the pectoral fin, by the assistance of which the
flat-head appears to move, is found in other Siluridans, which leads to a
conjecture that those may sometimes also move upon land.
Another fish found by Daldorf in Tranquebar, not only creeps upon the
shore, but even climbs the Fan palm in pursuit of certain Crustaceans
which form its food. The structure of this fish peculiarly fits it for
the exercise of this remarkable instinct. Its body is lubricated with
slime, which facilitates its progress over the bark, and amongst its
chinks; its gill-covers are armed with numerous spines, by which, used as
hands, it appears to suspend itself; turning its tail to the left, and
standing as it were on the little spines of its anal fin, it endeavours
to push itself upwards by the expansion of its body, closing at the
same time its gill-covers, that they may not prevent its progress; then
expanding them again, it reaches a higher point: thus, and by bending the
spiny rays of its dorsal fins to the right and left, and fixing them in
the bark, it continues its journey upwards. The dorsal and anal fins can
be folded up and received into a cavity of the body.
How exactly does this structure fit it for this extraordinary instinct!
These fins assist it in certain parts of its progress, and when not
employed, can be packed up so as not to hinder its progress. The lobes of
its gill-covers are so divided and armed as to be employed together, or
separately as hands, for the suspension of the animal, till, by fixing
its dorsal and anal fins, it prepares itself to take another step: all
showing the Supreme Intelligence and Almighty hand that planned and
fabricated its structure, causing so many organs, each in its own way, to
assist in promoting a common purpose. The Fan palm in which this animal
was taken by Daldorf, grew near the pool inhabited by these fishes.
He makes no mention, however, of their object in these terrestrial
excursions; but Dr Virey observes that it is for the sake of small
Crustaceans on which they feed.--_Kirby’s Bridgewater Treatise._
“THY KINGDOM COME,”