yellowish green on the belly. The back and sides exhibit brilliant
purplish and golden tints, the whole surface is covered with numerous
white spots, and the fins are of a beautiful vermilion colour; so
magnificent is its costume, that it has been justly remarked that it
looks “like one of Neptune’s lords dressed for a court day.” The King
Fish is found apparently in the seas of all parts of the world; it is
nowhere common, but seems to be more abundant in warm climates.
[Illustration: THE COD-FISH, (_Gadus morrhua_,)]
IS a noble inhabitant of the seas; not only on account of its size, but
also for the goodness of its flesh, either fresh or salted. The body
measures sometimes above three, and even four feet in length, with a
proportionable thickness. The back is of a brown olive colour, with
white spots on the sides, and the lower part of the body is entirely
white. The eyes are large and staring. The head is broad and fleshy, and
esteemed a delicious dish.
The fecundity of all fishes must be an object of the greatest
astonishment to every observer of nature. In the year 1790, a Cod-fish
was sold in Workington market, Cumberland, for one shilling: it weighed
fifteen pounds, and measured two feet nine inches in length, and seven
inches in breadth: the roe weighed two pounds ten ounces, one grain of
which contained three hundred and twenty eggs. The whole, therefore,
might contain, by fair estimation, three million nine hundred and four
thousand four hundred and forty eggs. From such a trifle as this we may
observe the prodigious value of the fishing trade to a commercial
nation, and hence draw a useful hint for increasing it; for, supposing
that each of the above eggs should arrive at the same perfection and
size, its produce would weigh twenty-six thousand one hundred and
twenty-three tons; and consequently would load two hundred and sixty-one
sail of ships, each of one hundred tons burden. If each fish were
brought to market, and sold as the original one, for one shilling, the
produce then would be one hundred and ninety-five thousand pounds; that
is to say, the first shilling would produce twenty times one hundred and
ninety-five thousand, or three million nine hundred thousand shillings.
In the European seas, the Cod begins to spawn in January, and deposits
its eggs in rough ground among rocks. Some continue in roe until the
beginning of April. Cod-fish are reckoned best for the table from
October to Christmas. The air-bladders, under the name of sounds, are
pickled, and sold separately.
The chief fisheries for Cod are in the Bay of Canada, on the great bank
of Newfoundland, and off the isle of St. Peter, and the isle of Sable.
The vessels frequenting these fisheries are from a hundred to two
hundred tons burden, and will each catch thirty thousand Cod, or more.
The best season is from the beginning of February to the end of April.
Each fisherman takes only one Cod at a time, and yet the more
experienced will catch from three to four hundred in a day. It is a
fatiguing work, owing particularly to the intense cold they are obliged
to suffer during the operation.
Cod frequently grow to a very great size. The largest that is known to
have been caught in this kingdom was taken at Scarborough, in the year
1775; it measured five feet eight inches in length, and five feet in
circumference, and weighed seventy-eight pounds. The usual weight of
this fish is from fourteen to forty pounds.
[Illustration: THE HADDOCK, (_Gadus æglefinus_,)]
IS much less in size than the cod-fish, and differs somewhat from it in
shape; it is of a bluish colour on the back, with small scales; a black
line is carried on from the upper corner of the gills on both sides down
to the tail; in the middle of the sides, under the line a littlebeneath the gills, is a black spot on each shoulder, which resembles the
mark of a man’s finger and thumb; from which circumstance it is called
_St. Peter’s_ fish, alluding to the fact recorded in the seventeenth
chapter of St. Matthew: “Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take
up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth,
thou shalt find a piece of money; that take, and give unto them for me
and thee.” And while St. Peter held the fish with his fore-finger and
thumb, it is fabled, that the skin received, and preserved to this day,
the hereditary impression.
Haddocks migrate in immense shoals, which usually arrive on the
Yorkshire coast about the middle of winter. These shoals are sometimes
known to extend from the shore nearly three miles in breadth, and in
length from Flamborough Head to Tynemouth Castle, a distance of fifty
miles; and, perhaps, even farther. An idea of the number of Haddocks may
be formed from the following circumstance: three fishermen, within a
mile of the harbour of Scarborough, frequently loaded their boat with
these fish twice a day, taking each time a ton weight of them!
The flesh of the Haddock is harder and thicker than that of the whiting,
and not so good; but it is often brought upon the table, either broiled,
boiled, or baked, and is by many much esteemed. The Haddocks caught on
the Irish coast, near Dublin, are unusually large, and of a fine
flavour, and unite to the firmness of the turbot much of its sweetness.
They are in season from October to January.
[Illustration: THE WHITING,
(_Gadus Merlangus_, or _Merlangus vulgaris_,)]
IS seldom more than twelve inches in length, and of a slender and
tapering form. The scales are small and fine. The back is silvery, and
when just taken out of the sea reflects the rays of light with great
lustre and gloss. The flesh is light, wholesome, and nourishing; and is
often recommended to sick or convalescent patients, when other food is
not approved of. The Whiting is found on the coasts of England, and is
in its proper season from August to February.
[Illustration: THE LING, (_Lota molva_,)]
IS usually from three to four feet in length, though some have been
caught much larger. The body is long, the head flat, the teeth in the
upper jaw small and numerous, with a small beard on the chin; its dorsal
and anal fins are very long.
These fish abound on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and great
quantities are salted for home consumption and exportation. On the
eastern coasts of England they are in their greatest perfection from the
beginning of February to the end of May. They spawn in June: at this
season, the males separate from the females, who deposit their eggs in
the soft oozy ground at the mouth of large rivers.
In a commercial point of view, the Ling may be considered a very
important fish. Nine hundred thousand pounds weight are annually
exported from Norway. In England, these fish are caught and cured in
somewhat the same manner as the cod. Those which are caught off the
shores of America are by no means so much esteemed as those which
frequent the coasts of Great Britain and Norway; and the Ling in the
neighbourhood of Iceland are so bad, that the inhabitants are unable to
find a sale for them in any country except their own. The roe and
air-bladders, or sounds of the Ling, are pickled, and sold separately.
[Illustration: THE HAKE, (_Gadus merluccius_,)]
IS a coarse fish, nearly allied to the Ling, and is caught in great
abundance on the Devonshire and Cornwall coast. It is also found on the
coasts of Ireland and Scotland, where it is called stock-fish, and is
often confounded with cod.
[Illustration: THE MACKEREL, (_Scomber Scomber_,)]
IS taken and well known in all parts of the world. It is usually about a
foot or more in length; the body is thick, firm, and fleshy, slender
towards the tail; the snout sharp, the tail forked, the back of a lovely
green, beautifully variegated, or, as it were, painted with black
strokes; the under part of the body is of a silvery colour, reflecting,
as well as the sides, the most elegant tints of the opal and the
mother-of-pearl. Nothing can be more interesting and pleasing to the eye
than to see Mackerel, just caught, brought on shore by the fishermen,
and spread, with all their radiancy, upon the pebbles of the beach, at
the first rays of the rising sun; but when taken out of their element,
they quickly die.
Mackerel visit our shores in vast shoals; but, from being very tender
and unfit for long carriage, they are found less useful than other
gregarious fish. The usual bait is a bit of red cloth, or a piece of the
tail of the Mackerel. The great fishery for them is in some parts of the
south and west coasts of England: this is of such an extent as to
employ, in the whole, a capital of nearly two hundred thousand pounds.
The fishermen go out to the distance of several leagues from the shore,
and stretch their nets, which are sometimes miles in extent, across the
tide during the night. A single boat has been known to bring in, after
one night’s fishing, a cargo that has been sold for nearly seventy
pounds. The roes of the Mackerel are used in the Mediterranean for
_caviar_. In Cornwall, and also in several parts of the continent,
Mackerel are preserved by pickling and salting; and in this state
possess a flavour somewhat like that of the salmon. Their voracity has
scarcely any bounds; and when they get among a shoal of herrings, they
will make such havoc as frequently to drive it away. Mackerel are in
season from March to June.
[Illustration: THE GAR-FISH, (_Belone vulgaris_,)]
OF which the figure above is an exact representation, is of a very
extraordinary form. The body, in shape and colour, is not unlike that of
a mackerel, but is much more elongated, and the jaws are protracted into
a kind of lance, nearly half as long as the rest of the body. It is
vulgarly supposed that this fish leads the phalanxes of mackerel through
the regions of the deep; and, like a faithful and experienced pilot,
traces their journey, points out their dangers, and conducts them to
their destination. A curious singularity of this creature is, that its
bones are of a bright green colour; the flesh is not so firm nor of so
good a flavour as that of the mackerel, but it sells pretty well
whenever it comes to market.
[Illustration: THE HERRING. (_Clupea Harengus._)]
THIS fish is somewhat like the mackerel in shape, as well as in delicacy
of taste, although it differs much in flavour. It is about nine or ten
inches long, and about two and a half broad, and has blood-shot eyes;
the scales large and roundish; the tail forked; the body of a fat, soft,
delicate flesh, but more rank than that of the mackerel, and therefore
less wholesome. Yet some people are so very fond of it, that they call
the Herring _the King of Fishes_. They swim in shoals, and spawn once a
year, about the autumnal equinox, at which time they are the best. They
come into shallow water to spawn, like the mackerel; and hence they
periodically visit our coasts, retiring again to the deep waters when
the spawning season is over.
The fecundity of the Herring is astonishing. It has been calculated that
if the offspring of a single pair of Herrings could be suffered to
multiply unmolested and undiminished for twenty years, they would
exhibit a bulk ten times the size of the earth. But, happily, Providence
has contrived the balance of nature by giving them innumerable enemies.
All the monsters of the deep find them an easy prey; and, in addition to
these, immense flocks of sea-fowl watch their outset, and spread
devastation on all sides.
In the year 1773, the Herrings for two months were in such immense
shoals on the Scotch coasts, that it appears from tolerably accurate
computations, no fewer than one thousand six hundred and fifty
boat-loads were taken in Loch Torridon in one night. These would, in the
whole, amount to nearly twenty thousand barrels.
This fish is prepared in different ways, in order to be kept for use
through the year. The white, or pickled Herrings, are washed in fresh
water, and left the space of twelve or fifteen hours in a tub full of
strong brine, made of fresh water and sea-salt. When taken out, they are
drained, and put in rows or layers in barrels, with salt.
Red Herrings are prepared in the same manner, with this difference, that
they are left in the brine double the time above mentioned; and when
taken out, placed in a large chimney constructed for the purpose, and
containing about twelve thousand, where they are smoked by means of a
fire underneath, made of brushwood, for the space of twenty-four hours.
[Illustration: THE SPRAT, (_Clupea Sprattus_,)]
A WELL-KNOWN fish, between four and five inches in length, the back fin
very remote from the nose; the lower jaw longer than the upper, and the
eyes blood-shot, like those of the herring, to which it is nearly
allied. Sprats arrive yearly in the beginning of November in the river
Thames; and generally a large dish of them is presented on the table at
Guildhall, on Lord Mayor’s Day, November 9th. They continue through the
winter, and depart in March. They are sold by measure, and yield a great
deal of sustenance to poor people in the winter season. It is reported
that they have been taken yearly about Easter-time in a lake in
Cheshire, called Kostern Mere, and in the river Mersey, in which the sea
ebbs and flows seven or eight miles below the lake.
The Sardine (_Clupea Sardina_) is caught on the southern shores of
France, where it is held in great repute; and from its abounding in the
neighbourhood of the island of Sardinia, it is called the Sardine. It is
sent here pickled in the same way as herrings, and packed in barrels.
THE PILCHARD. (_Clupea Pilchardus._)
THE chief difference between this fish and the herring is, that the body
of the Pilchard is more round and thick; the nose shorter in proportion,
turning up; and the under jaw shorter. The back is more elevated, and
the belly not so sharp. The scales adhere very closely, whilst those of
the herring easily drop off. It is also, in general, of considerably
smaller size.
About the middle of July, Pilchards appear in vast shoals off the coast
of Cornwall. These shoals remain till the latter end of October, when it
is probable they retire to some undisturbed deep, at a little distance,
for the winter.
The Pilchard fishery is an important branch of commerce. From a
statement of the number of hogsheads exported each year, for ten years,
from 1747 to 1756 inclusive, from the four ports of Fowy, Falmouth,
Penzance, and St. Ives, it appears that Fowy exported yearly one
thousand seven hundred and thirty-two hogsheads; Falmouth, fourteen
thousand six hundred and thirty-one; Penzance and Mount’s Bay, twelve
thousand one hundred and forty-nine; St. Ives, one thousand two hundred
and eighty-two: in all, twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and
ninety-four hogsheads. Every hogshead, for ten years last past, together
with the bounty allowed for exportation, and the oil made out of it, has
amounted, one year with another, at an average, to the price of one
pound thirteen shillings and three pence; so that the cash paid for
Pilchards exported has, at a medium, annually amounted to the sum of
forty-nine thousand five hundred and thirty-two pounds. The above was
the state of the fishing several years ago; at present it is still more
extensive, the average annual produce of the Cornish fisheries amounting
to about twenty-one thousand hogsheads, which contain no less than sixty
millions of Pilchards.
THE WHITEBAIT. (_Clupea alba._)
THIS beautiful little fish is a pure white, without spots on either
side. Immense quantities are caught from the beginning of April to the
end of September, in the Thames; but they are so delicate as scarcely to
bear carriage, and are therefore thought best when eaten as near as
possible to the place where they were taken; and hence the custom of
having Whitebait dinners at the taverns at Greenwich and Blackwall. It
was long supposed that the Whitebait was the fry of the shad, but it is
now proved to be a distinct species.
[Illustration: THE ANCHOVY. (_Engraulis encrasicolus._)]
LIKE the herring and sprat, these fish leave the depths of the open sea,
in order to frequent the smooth and shallow places of the coast, for the
purpose of spawning. The fishermen generally light a fire on the shore,
for the purpose of attracting the Anchovies, when they fish for them in
the night. After they are cleaned, and their heads cut off, they are
cured in a particular way, and packed in small barrels for sale and
exportation. Anchovies are occasionally found both in the North Sea and
in the Baltic; but they are in much greater number in the Mediterranean
than in any other part of the world. They have sometimes, though rarely,
been caught in the river Dee, on the coasts of Flintshire and Cheshire.
The upper jaw of this fish is longer than the under; the back is brown;
the sides silvery; fins short; the dorsal fin, opposite the ventrals,
transparent; the tail fin-forked. Its length is about three inches.
[Illustration: THE TURBOT. (_Rhombus maximus._)]
THE TURBOT is a well-known fish, and much esteemed for the delicate
taste, firmness, and sweetness of its flesh. Juvenal, in his fourth
Satire, gives us a very ludicrous description of the Roman emperor
Domitian assembling the Senate to decide how and with what sauce this
fish should be eaten. The Turbot is sometimes two feet and a half long,
and about two broad. The scales on the skin are so very small that they
are hardly perceptible. The colour of the upper side of the body is a
dark brown, spotted with dirty yellow; the under side a pure white,
tinged on the edges with a somewhat flesh-colour, or pale pink. There is
a great difficulty in baiting the Turbot, as it is very fastidious in
its food. Nothing can allure it but herrings or small slices of
haddocks, and lampreys; and as it lies in deep water, flirting and
paddling on the ooze at the bottom of the sea, no net can reach it, so
that it is generally caught by hook and line. It is found chiefly on the
northern coasts of England, Scotland, and Holland.
[Illustration: THE PLAICE, (_Platessa vulgaris_,)]
A WELL-KNOWN English fish, nearly allied to the turbot. It has smooth
sides, an anal spine, and the eyes and six tubercles are placed on the
same side of the head. The body is very flat, and the upper part of the
fish of a clear brown colour, marked with orange-coloured spots, and the
belly white. Plaice spawn in the beginning of February, and when
full-grown assume something like the shape of a turbot; but the flesh is
very different, being soft and nearly tasteless.
When near the ground they swim slowly and horizontally, but if suddenly
disturbed they change the horizontal to the vertical position, darting
along with meteor-like rapidity, and then again quickly resuming their
inactive habits at the bottom of the water. Plaice feed on small fish
and young crustacea, and have sometimes been taken on our coasts
weighing fifteen pounds, but a fish half that weight is considered very
large. The finest kind, called Diamond Plaice, are caught on the Sussex
coast. These fish are in considerable demand as food, though by no means
equal to the turbot and sole. Those of a moderate size are reckoned the
best eating.
[Illustration: THE FLOUNDER. (_Platessa flesus._)]
THE principal distinction between the plaice and the Flounder consists
in the former having a row of six tubercles behind the left eye, of
which this fish is entirely destitute; it is also a little longer in the
body, and, when full-grown, somewhat thicker. The back is of a dark
olive colour, spotted. In taste, they are reckoned more delicate than
the plaice. They live long after being taken out of their element, and
are often cried in the streets of London, but they seldom appear on the
tables of the rich and dainty. They are common in the British rivers,
and in all large rivers which obey the impression of the tide, and they
feed upon worms bred in the mud at the bottom of the water.
[Illustration: THE SOLE, (_Solea vulgaris_,)]
IS well known as a very excellent fish, whose flesh is firm, delicate,
and of a pleasing flavour. Soles grow to the length of eighteen inches,
and even more, in some of our seas. They are often found of this size
and superiority in Torbay, whence they are sent to market at Exeter and
several other towns in Devonshire and the adjacent counties. They are
found also in the Mediterranean and several other seas, and, when in
season, are in great requisition for the most luxurious tables. The
upper part of the body is brown; the under part white; one of the
pectoral fins is tipped with black, the sides are yellow, and the tail
rounded at the extremity. It is said that the small Soles, caught in the
northern seas, are of a much superior taste to the large ones, which the
southern and western coasts afford.
This fish has also the quality of keeping sweet and good for several
days, even in hot weather, and is thought to acquire a more delicate
flavour by being thus kept. On this account it is that Soles in the
London markets are frequently more esteemed than those which are cooked
immediately after they are taken out of the sea.
In the economy of flat fish we have an account of one circumstance which
is very remarkable: among various other marine productions, they have
been known to feed on shell-fish, although they are furnished with no
apparatus whatever in their mouth which would seem to be adapted for
reducing these to a state calculated for digestion.
[Illustration: THE SALMON-PINK, BRANDLING, PAR, OR SKEGGER.]
THIS brilliant little fish is the smallest of the _salmonidæ_, and is
only found in rivers frequented by salmon; for whenever a river becomes
deserted by them, the samlet also disappears. This fish is considered to
be the fry of the true salmon, and Mr. Young, in a recent essay, has,
we think, fairly established the fact; but Mr. Yarrell and other
naturalists assert it to be a distinct species.
[Illustration: THE SALMON, (_Salmo salar_,)]
IS the boast of large rivers, and one of the noblest inhabitants of the
sea, if we esteem it by its bulk, colour, and the sweetness of its
flesh. Salmon are found of a great weight, and sometimes measure five
feet in length. The colour is beautiful, a dark blue dotted with black
spots on the back, merging to silvery white on the sides, and white with
a little shade of pink below. The fins are comparatively small. These
fish, though they live principally in the sea, come up the rivers at the
spawning season, to a considerable distance inland, where the female
deposits her eggs. Soon after, both she and the male take an excursion
to the vast regions of the sea, and do not visit any of the land streams
again till the next year, when they return for the same purpose. They
are so powerfully impelled by this natural impulse, that, if they are
stopped when swimming up a river by a fall of water, they spring up
with such a force through the descending torrent, that they stem it till
they reach the higher bed of the stream; and on this account small
cascades on the Tweed and other rivers are often called Salmon-leaps.
The Salmon is in a great measure confined to the northern seas, being
unknown in the Mediterranean, and in the waters of other warm climates.
The flesh is red when raw, rather paler when salted or boiled; it is an
agreeable food, fat, tender, and sweet, and excels in richness all other
fresh-water fish; however, it does not agree with every stomach, and is
often injurious when eaten by sick persons.
In the river Tweed, about the month of July, the capture of Salmon is
astonishing: often a boat-load, and sometimes nearly two, may be taken
at a tide; and in one instance more than seven hundred fish were caught
at a single haul of the net. From fifty to a hundred at a haul are very
common. Some of these are sent to London by the railway; but part are
slightly salted and pickled, in which state they are called kipper. The
season for fishing commences in the Tweed in February, and ends about
old Michaelmas-day. On this river there are about forty considerable
fisheries, which extend upwards, about fourteen miles from the mouth;
besides many others of less consequence. These, several years ago, were
let at an annual rent of more than ten thousand pounds; and to defray
this expense, it has been calculated that upwards of two hundred
thousand Salmon must be caught there, one year with another. The
principal Salmon fisheries in Europe are in the rivers, or on the
sea-coasts adjoining the large rivers of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The chief English rivers in which they are now caught are the Tyne, the
Trent, the Severn, and the Tweed. They were formerly found in the
Thames, but none have been taken there for many years. The Salmon fry go
down the river to the sea in April. A young Salmon under two pounds in
weight is called a Salmon Peel, and a larger one a Grilse. Salmon cannot
be eaten too fresh, and is very unwholesome when stale.
[Illustration: THE SALMON TROUT, (_Salmo Trutta_,)]
ALSO called the Bull Trout, or Sea Trout, is thicker in the body than
the common trout, and weighs about three pounds; it has a large smooth
head, which, as well as the back, is of a bluish tint, with a green
gloss; the sides are marked with numerous black spots, and the tail is
broadest at the end. It is said that in the beginning of summer the
flesh of this fish reddens, and remains this colour till the month of
August; which is very probably owing to their being on the point of
spawning. Like the salmon, this fish inhabits the sea; but in the months
of November and December it enters the rivers, in order to deposit its
roe; and consequently, in the spawning season, it is occasionally found
in lakes and streams, at a great distance from the sea. It is very
delicate, and much esteemed on our tables. Some people prefer this fish
to salmon; but they are both apt to cause illness when eaten in too
great a quantity.
[Illustration: THE TROUT. (_Salmo-fario._]
THIS fish, in figure, resembles the salmon; it has a short roundish
head, and a blunt snout. Trouts are fresh-water fish, and they breed and
live constantly in rivers and small pellucid streams which sparkle over
clean pebbles and beds of sand.
They feed on river flies and other water insects, and are so fond of
them, and so blindly voracious, that anglers deceive them with
artificial flies made of feathers, wool, and other materials, which
resemble very closely the natural ones. In Lough Neagh, in Ireland,
Trouts have been caught weighing thirty pounds; and we are told, that in
the Lake of Geneva, and in the northern lakes of England, they are found
of a still larger size. It holds the first place among the river fish,
and its flesh is very delicious, but difficult of digestion when old, or
kept too long. They spawn in the month of December, and deposit their
eggs in the gravel at the bottom of rivers, dykes, and ponds. Unlike
most other fish, the Trouts are least esteemed when near spawning. They
are properly in season in the months of July and August, being then fat
and well-tasted.
The beautiful silvery Trout is the most voracious of fresh-water fish,
and will devour every living thing which the water produces--even its
own spawn in all its stages, and will lie upon the bed or hill, watching
to seize its young fry, as they become vivified and rise from under
their gravelly birthplace. Neither does he confine himself to any given
sort of fish, but luxuriates his rapacious stomach upon all the
varieties, from instinct occasionally changing his food to larvæ,
caddis, ephemera, worms, and even the young of the water-snail, all of
which act as alternatives. Owing to his large fins and broad tail, his
movements are extremely rapid, and, from his muscular power and
pliability, he seldom misses his prey. His habits are solitary, being
only accompanied by one, and that at some distance from him, in the
summer season; and as the autumn approaches, when larvæ, &c., are
diminishing, he keeps entirely alone until the pairing season returns.
The period of spawning differs in various rivers from natural causes,
such as snow, cold rains, or inclement weather; for, as Trout, like
salmon, spawn on gravel beds in shallow water, the cold readily affects
them. When they cannot reach the spot prepared for the deposit of their
eggs, they frequently abstain from spawning for weeks. The younger Trout
generally hill, as it is termed, earlier than those of larger growth.
They begin to throw up their bed early in December, when the female and
male may be seen working together, the former mostly in advance. By
constant labour they dig a hollow in the gravel, throwing it up on each
side, and at last forming a heap, which is called a hill, or bed. At
this period they are very shy and stupid, and even the shadow of a cloud
will frighten them from their hill, when they retreat into deeper water;
but upon finding all quiet they return. This preparation generally
occupies two or three weeks; and frequently the hill is shared both in
labour and occupation by several pairs of Trout. It often measures many
feet in diameter, and is two or three feet higher than the bed of the
stream. From the middle of December to the end of January the Trout is
in full spawning operation; when the fish deposit their eggs in the
hollow, and afterwards work the gravel over them to the depth of about
three inches. If the temperature of the water is not altered during the
period of incubation, the young make their appearance on the fiftieth
day; never earlier, frequently later. Nature has endowed the young fry
with so much instinct of self-preservation, that for many days they keep
under the gravel, and it is curious to see the shoal hiding together
under large stones to protect themselves from danger: this they continue
to do until the eggshell, in which they remain partially enveloped,
falls off from their delicate frames. This shell, which adheres to them
for fourteen days, contains a proportion of fluid necessary for their
support during this period of helplessness. After this they resort to
the shallows and scours to avoid the larger fish, where they remain
solitary for a year, during which time, in good keep, they attain the
weight of three to four ounces; the second year, eight to ten ounces;
after which they begin to breed. A fish, like every animal, becomes fat
when it has abundance of food with little or no exertion; so that the
growth is entirely regulated by the relative proportion of food and
labour. I have observed this difference in the same brood of Trout,
artificially bred upon my system: the one brood being placed in water
well supplied with food, the other in a spring-stream where little food
existed; the former, at ten months old, were four inches long, and three
and a half ounces in weight, while the latter were only an inch and a
half long, and less than an ounce in weight. Although Trout are not
migratory, yet, when they become large, they run up stream to purer
water. The small Trout are carried down the stream against their habit,
by the flushes of water or floods during the autumn months, being unable
to stem the thickened torrent, which fills their gills with alluvial
deposit, and hinders their respiration, whence they become weak and
sickly. In this state of water all fish sicken more or less, and it
destroys vast numbers in the very young state. I have known thousands
destroyed by the overflowing of a river, as well old as young. The cause
of all our rivers falling off in the quantity of fish, is from the
increasing impurity of the water, as fish especially require pure water.
_The above interesting notice of the Trout has been communicated to
the publisher by_ MR. BOCCIUS, _who devotes himself professionally
to the increase of fish in rivers and ponds, and has performed
marvels._
[Illustration: THE CHAR, OR ALPINE TROUT,
(_Salmo salvelinus_,)]
IS not unlike the trout; the scales are very small; the colour of the
body marked with numerous spots and points of black, red, and silver,
mixed with yellow, and without a circle; the back tinged with
olive-green; the belly white, the snout bluish. All the fins, except
those of the back, are reddish, and the adipose one is red on its edge.
This fish is about twelve inches in length, and is esteemed very
delicate as an article of food, especially by the Italians. It is
abundant in the Lago di Garda, near Venice; and is also found, not only
in our northern lakes in Westmoreland and Scotland, but also in the
large sheets of water at the foot of the mountains in Lapland. The
potted Char enjoys a high and deserved reputation in several parts of
the Continent, as well as in England. The Char is a fresh-water fish,
and is generally found in the deepest parts of lakes; it is never taken
by the angler, only by the net.
[Illustration: THE GRAYLING. (_Salmo thymallus._)]
THIS fish never exceeds fifteen inches in length, and seldom arrives at
three pounds weight. The back and sides are of a silvery grey, and when
the fish is first taken out of the water, slightly varied with blue and
gold. The coverts of the gills are of a glossy green, and the scales are
large.
The Grayling is a fresh-water fish, and delights chiefly in clear and
not too rapid streams, where it affords great amusement to the angler,
as it is very voracious, and rises eagerly to the fly. They are bolder
than trout, and even if missed by the hook several times successively,
they will still pursue the bait. They feed principally on worms,
insects, and water-snails; and the shells of the latter are often found
in great quantities on their stomachs. They spawn in the months of April
and May. The largest fish of this species ever heard of was one caught
in the Severn, and weighed five pounds.
Ancient writers strongly recommended this fish as food for sick persons,
as they considered it peculiarly wholesome and easy of digestion.
[Illustration: THE SMELT, OR SPARLING. (_Osmerus eperlanus._)]
THIS fish is in length about eight or nine inches, and nearly one in
breadth; the body is of a light olive green, inclining to silver white.
The smell, when the fish is fresh and raw, is not unlike that of ripe
cucumbers, but it goes off in the frying-pan, and the Smelt then yields
a tender and most delicious food. Smelts are sea-fish, and inhabit the
sea-coast and harbours; but they are often taken in the Thames, the
Medway, and other large rivers, which they ascend in the spawning
season. The skin of this fish is so transparent, that with the help of a
microscope, its blood may be seen to circulate.
Smelts are found on the coasts of all the northern countries of Europe,
and also in the Mediterranean. They vary considerably in size. Mr.
Pennant states that the largest he had ever heard of measured thirteen
inches in length, and weighed half a pound.
[Illustration: THE PIKE. (_Esox lucius._)]
THE body of this fish is a pale olive-grey, deepest on the back, and
marked on the sides by several yellowish spots or patches; the abdomen
white, slightly spotted with black; its length is from one to eight
feet, and its weight from one or two to forty or fifty pounds. The flesh
is white and firm, and considered very wholesome; the larger and older
it is, the more it is esteemed. There is scarcely any fish of its size
in the world that in voracity can equal the Pike.[A] It lives in rivers,
lakes, and ponds; and in a confined piece of water will soon destroy all
other fish, as it generally does not feed upon anything else, and often
swallows one nearly as big as itself; for through its greediness in
eating, it takes the head foremost, and so draws it in by little and
little at a time, till it has swallowed the whole. A gudgeon of good
size has been found in the stomach of a large Pike, the head of which
had already received clear marks of the power of digestion, whilst the
rest of the fish was still fresh and unimpaired.
[A] Mr. Boccius has, however, shown that the Trout is even more
voracious.
“I have been assured (says Walton) by my friend Mr. Seagrave, who keeps
tame otters, that he has known a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one
of his otters for a carp that the otter had caught, and was then
bringing out of the water.”
Boulker, in his Art of Angling, says, that his father caught a Pike,
which he presented to Lord Cholmondeley, that was an ell long, and
weighed thirty-six pounds. His lordship directed it to be put into a
canal in his garden, which at that time contained a great quantity of
fish. Twelve months afterwards the water was drawn off, and it was
discovered that the Pike had devoured all the fish, except a large carp
that weighed between nine and ten pounds, and even this had been bitten
in several places. The Pike was again put in, and an entire fresh stock
of fish for him to feed on: all these he devoured in less than a year.
Several times he was observed by workmen who were standing near, to draw
ducks and other water-fowl under water. Crows were shot and thrown in,
which he took in the presence of the men. From this time the
slaughtermen had orders to feed him with the garbage of the
slaughter-house; but being afterwards neglected, he died, as is
supposed, from want of food.
In December, 1765, a Pike was caught in the river Ouse, that weighed
upwards of twenty-eight pounds, and was sold for a guinea. When it was
opened, a watch with a black riband and two seals were found in its
body. These, it was afterwards found, had belonged to a gentleman’s
servant, who had been drowned in the river about a month before.
The Pike is a very long-lived fish. In the year 1497, one was caught at
Heilbrun, in Swabia, to which was affixed a brazen ring, with the
following words engraved on it in Greek characters: “I am the fish,
which was first of all put into this lake, by the hands of the governor
of the universe, Frederick the Second, the fifth of October, 1230.”
[Illustration: THE PERCH, (_Perca fluviatilis_,)]
SELDOM grows to any great size; yet we have an account of one which is
said to have weighed nine pounds. The body is deep, the scales rough,
the back arched, and the side-lines placed near the back. For beauty of
colours, the Perch vies with the gaudiest inhabitants of the waters; the
back glows with the deep reflections of the brightest emeralds, divided
by five broad black stripes; the abdomen imitates the tints of the opal
and mother-of-pearl; and the ruby hue of the fins completes an
assemblage of colours most harmonious and elegant. It is a gregarious
fish, and is caught in several rivers of these islands; the flesh is
firm, delicate, and much esteemed.
It is generally believed that a pike will not attack a full-grown Perch:
he is deterred from so doing by the spiny or dorsal fin on the back,
which this fish always erects at the approach of an enemy. Perch are so
voracious, that, if an expert angler happens to find a shoal of them, he
may catch every one. If, however, a single fish escape that has felt the
hook, all is over; as this fish becomes so restless, as soon to occasion
the whole shoal to leave the place. Perch are so bold, that they are
generally the first fish caught by a young angler; they will also soon
learn to take bread thrown into the water to feed them. A large-sized
Perch weighs about three pounds; but generally the Perches caught in
ponds do not exceed eight or ten ounces in weight.
[Illustration: THE BASSE, OR SEA PERCH, (_Labrax lupus_,)]
IS found in abundance on our southern coasts, and is still more common
in the Mediterranean. It has one long dorsal fin, like the ruffe. The
flesh of this fish is highly esteemed.
The Climbing Perch, (_Anabas scandens_,) a native of the fresh waters of
India, possesses a very singular apparatus for enabling it to quit the
water, and pass a considerable time on dry ground. This consists of a
curiously folded portion of thin bone on each side of the head near the
gills, in the cavities of which a good deal of water is contained; this
keeps the gills in a moist state while the fish is out of the water, and
thus enables it to breathe in the air. This fish is said to employ its
singular power of quitting the water for the purpose of climbing trees,
although what it expects to gain by so doing is quite unknown. Its power
of climbing has been denied by some naturalists, but Daldorf says that
he once caught one which had clambered to a height of six feet on the
stem of a palm, and was in the act of going still higher.
[Illustration: THE POPE, OR RUFFE. (_Acerina cernua._)]
THE POPE is very like a small perch, but with a curiously formed single
dorsal fin: the colour of the back is a dusky olive green; the sides
light brownish green and copper colour; and small brown spots are spread
over the dorsal fin, the back, and tail. The pectoral, ventral, and anal
fins are pale brown. This fish rarely exceeds six inches in length; but
it is nearly as good as a perch of the same size, which it resembles,
both in its haunts and habits; it spawns in April, and feeds on small
fry, worms, or aquatic insects.
Cuvier assigns the credit of the first discovery of this fish to an
Englishman of the name of Caius, who found it in the river Yare, near
Norwich, and called it Aspredo, a translation of our name Ruffe,
(rough,) which is well applied to it, on account of the harsh feel of
its denticulated scales.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE CARP, (_Cyprinus carpio_,)]
IS famous for the sweetness of its flesh, when of moderate size, that
is, when measuring about twelve to fifteen inches in length, and
weighing about three pounds. The scales are large, with a golden gloss
upon a dark green ground. These fish sometimes grow to the length of
three or four feet, and contain a great quantity of fat. The soft roe of
the Carp is esteemed a great delicacy among epicures. In the canals of
Chantilly, formerly the seat of the Prince of Condé, Carps have been
kept for above one hundred years, most of them appearing hoary through
old age, and so tame that they answered to their names when the keeper
called them to be fed. This fish has large molar teeth only, situate at
the back part of the head or throat, and a broad tongue; the tail is
widely spread as well as the fins, which are inclined to a reddish tint.
Carp that live in rivers and running streams are preferred for the
table, as those which inhabit pools and ponds have generally a muddy and
disagreeable taste. Though so cunning in general as to be called the
River Fox, yet at spawning time they suffer themselves to be tickled and
caught without attempting to escape. It is said that Carp were first
brought to England about three hundred years ago. They are very
tenacious of life, and at the inns in Holland are often kept alive a
month or six weeks, by being fed with bread and milk, and laid on wet
moss in a net, which is hung from the ceiling in an airy place. The moss
is kept moist, and water is thrown over the fish twice a day.
Carp is always considered a delicacy for the table, especially when
stewed in port wine; and it appears to have been long held in high
estimation on that account, as we find, from the privy purse expenses of
Henry VIII., that the bluff king was exceedingly fond of Carp.
[Illustration: THE TENCH, (_Cyprinus tinca_,)]
LIKE the carp, is remarkably tenacious of life. Its body is thick and
short, and seldom exceeds twelve inches in length, or four pounds in
weight. The eyes are red; the back, dorsal, and ventral fins dusky; the
head, sides, and abdomen of a greenish hue, mixed with gold; and the
tail very broad. The Tench delights in still water, in the muddy parts
of ponds, where it is the most secure from the voracious ramblings and
fierce attacks of the tyrant pike, and from the hook of the angler; here
it lives nearly motionless, lurking beneath flags, reeds, and weeds.
This inactive life has enabled some individuals of this species to
attain an extraordinary bulk. We have read, as a well-authenticated
fact, that in the northern part of England, in a piece of water, which
having been long neglected, was filled with timber, stones, and rubbish,
two hundred Tench, and as many perch of good size were found; and that
one fish in particular, which seemed to have been shut up in a nook, had
not only surpassed all the others in size, but had also taken the form
of the hole in which it had been accidentally confined. The body was in
the shape of a half-moon, conforming in the convexity of its outlines to
the concavity of the dungeon where this innocent sufferer had been
immured for a number of years; it weighed eleven pounds.
[Illustration: THE GOLD-FISH, OR GOLDEN CARP,
(_Cyprinus auratus_,)]
WAS originally brought from China, and first introduced into England in
1661, but is now become quite common, and will breed as freely in ponds
as the carp. The average size is about five inches, and it scarcely ever
exceeds seven and a half. Gold-fish are highly prized in China, and are
extensively introduced in the ornamental waters of our own country.
Nothing is more pleasing than to see them glide along and play in the
transparent crystal, whilst their broad and glittering scales reflect
the rays of the sun. They are often kept within the small compass of a
glass bowl, where they become tame and docile, and after a short time
seem to recognise their feeders.
The smallest fish are preferred, not only from their being the most
beautiful, but because a greater number of them can be kept in a small
circumference. These are of a fine orange red colour, appearing as if
sprinkled over with gold-dust. Some, however, are white, like silver;
and others white, spotted with red.
When Gold-fish are kept in ponds, they are often taught to rise to the
surface of the water at the sound of a bell, to be fed.
[Illustration: THE GUDGEON, (_Cyprinus gobio_,)]
A WELL-KNOWN fresh-water fish, generally found in gentle streams, on
gravelly scours. The average length of this fish is from six to eight
inches, and its weight is from two to three ounces. The back is brown,
the abdomen white, and the sides tinged with red; the tail is forked. It
is beautified with black spots both on the body and tail. Gudgeons spawn
early in summer, and feed upon worms and aquatic insects. Their flesh is
white, of excellent flavour, and easy of digestion. In the months of
September and October these fish are taken in the rivers of some parts
of the Continent in great abundance; and the markets are well supplied
with them. They are not uncommon in the river Thames, where persons are
frequently to be seen fishing for them from punts. As these fish bite
with great eagerness, large numbers are often taken in this manner. They
are also caught in nets, as well as with hooks and lines.
[Illustration: THE CHUB, (_Cyprinus cephalus_,)]
IS of a coarse nature, and full of bones; it seldom exceeds the weight
of five pounds. The body is of an oblong shape, nearly round; the head,
which is large, and the back, are of a deep dusky green; the sides
silvery, and the abdomen white; the pectoral fins are of a pale yellow,
the ventral and anal ones red; and the tail brown, tinged with blue at
its extremity, and slightly forked. This fish frequents the deep holes
of rivers, but in the summer, when the sun shines, it rises to the
surface, and lies quiet under the shade of the trees, that spread their
foliage on the verdant banks; but yet, though it seems to indulge itself
in slumber, it is easily awakened, and at the least alarm dives rapidly
to the bottom. Although a leather-mouthed fish, it takes every species
of food, including small fish, the same as a trout, though it is not so
voracious. In March and April this fish may be caught with large red
worms; in June and July, with flies, snails, and cherries; in August,
and September, with cheese pounded in a mortar, mixed with saffron and
butter. When the Chub seizes a bait, it bites so eagerly that its jaws
are often heard to chop like those of a dog. It, however, seldom breaks
its hold, and, when once struck, is soon tired.
[Illustration: THE BARBEL. (_Cyprinus Barbus._)]
THE BARBEL is readily distinguished from the other carps by the four
barbs or wattels attached to its mouth. Its upper jaw is very
considerably extended beyond the lower jaw. The Lea, the Thames, and
various other rivers in the neighbourhood of London, abound in this
fish, which affords excellent sport to the angler. “During summer,” says
Mr. Gorrell, “this fish, in shoals, frequents the weedy parts of the
river; but as soon as the weeds begin to decay in autumn it seeks the
deeper water, and shelters itself near piles, locks, and bridges, which
it frequents till the following spring.” It is sometimes found to weigh
from fifteen to eighteen pounds, and to measure three feet in length,
but its usual length is from twelve to eighteen inches. The flesh is
coarse and unsavory, and held in no estimation.
[Illustration: THE DACE, (_Cyprinus leuciscus_,)]
RESEMBLES the chub in its form, but is smaller, and of a lighter colour;
it is gregarious and remarkably prolific. It is seldom more than ten
inches in length; the back is of a dusky colour, tinged with yellow and
green, and the sides have a silvery cast.
Dace spawn in March, and are in season about three weeks afterwards.
They improve, and are good about Michaelmas; but in February they are
best. The flesh is, however, at all times woolly and insipid. They are
very lively creatures, and, if kept in ponds, may live a considerable
time.
[Illustration: THE ROACH, (_Cyprinus rutilus_,)]
BELONGS also to the carp family, and is remarkable for its numerous
progeny. It is a deep yet thin-made fish, in shape somewhat resembling
the bream, but approaching the carp in the breadth and shape of its
scales, which are large and deciduous. The soundness of the flesh is
become proverbial, and pleases the taste by a peculiar delicacy of
flavour. The ventral fins are, like those of the perch, of a bright
crimson, and the irides of the eye sparkle like rubies and garnets. The
length of the Roach is commonly between nine and ten inches, but
sometimes much greater.
[Illustration: THE BLEAK, (_Cyprinus alburnus_,)]
IS nearly allied to the roach. It is a small glittering fish, familiar
to most persons from its playing about on warm summer evenings on the
surface of rivers in chase of flies, bread-crumbs, &c. The scales are
employed in making artificial pearls.
[Illustration: THE BREAM, (_Cyprinus Brama_,)]
IS a flatfish fish, not unlike the carp in several points, but much
broader in proportion to its length and thickness. Its head is
truncated, the upper jaw a little projecting; the forehead a bluish
black; cheeks yellowish; body olive, paler below; fins obscure, with an
oblong conical process at the base of the ventral fins; twenty-nine rays
in the anal fin; its greatest length is about two feet. The scales are
large, and of a bright colour; the tail has the form of a crescent. It
frequents the deepest parts of rivers, lakes, and ponds. These fish
spawn in May, secluding themselves at that time so carefully in the ooze
at the bottom of the water that they are seldom found with either soft
or hard roe in them, so that in some countries the name is often used to
denote sterility. The flesh is not comparable to that of the carp.
The White Bream never exceeds a pound in weight, and is consequently
much smaller than the Common or Carp Bream, which frequently weighs
seven or eight pounds.
In some of the lakes of Ireland great quantities of Bream are taken,
many of them of very large size, sometimes weighing as much as twelve or
even fourteen pounds each. A place conveniently situated for the
fishing is baited with grain, or other coarse food, for ten days or a
fortnight regularly, after which great sport is usually obtained. The
party frequently catch several hundredweight, which are distributed
among the poor of the vicinity, who split and dry them with great care,
to eat with their potatoes.
[Illustration: THE MINNOW. (_Cyprinus phoxinus._)]
THE body of the Minnow is of a blackish green, with blue and yellow
variegations; the abdomen silvery; scales small; ten rays in the
ventral, anal, and dorsal fins; tail forked, and marked near the base
with a dusky spot. Its length is about three inches.
This beautiful and well-known fish is gregarious, and is frequent in
clear gravelly streams and rivulets in many parts of Europe. In Britain
it appears in March, and is seldom seen after October. It spawns in
June, and is, indeed, found in roe during the greater part of the
summer. It is easily tamed: and, in captivity, may be taught to pick
flies or filaments of beef from the hand.
The flesh of the Minnow is extremely delicate, but the fish is so small
that it would take a great number to make a dish, and consequently it is
seldom used for human food. Its chief value is as a bait for catching
other fish. In some parts of England it is so abundant as sometimes to
be used as manure.
[Illustration: THE LOACH, (_Cobitis barbatula_,)]
WHICH also belongs to the family of the carps, is a small fish, with six
barbs at the mouth. It inhabits small, gravelly streams, and lies at the
bottom among the stones; it is easily caught with a small worm.
It is considered an extremely well-flavoured fish, though, on account of
its small size, and the difficulty of catching a sufficient quantity,
seldom seen at table. The Loach is very sensitive to atmospheric
changes, which it shows by its restless movements. They have sometimes
been kept alive in glass vessels, in which state they indicate the
approach of storms with almost the accuracy of a barometer.
[Illustration: THE BULL-HEAD, OR MILLER’S THUMB,
(_Cottus gobio_,)]
IS found in clear brooks and rivers in most parts of Europe. It is from
four to five inches long; the head is large in proportion to the body,
broad and depressed; the gill fins round, and beautifully notched. The
mouth is large and full of small teeth; the general colour of the body
is a dark brownish black. This fish is remarkably stupid, and may be
caught with ease by the most inexperienced angler, even with a bent pin
and coarse thread. Its hiding-places are among loose stones, under which
the peculiar flattened form of its head enables it to thrust itself. Its
popular name seems to have suggested itself from the resemblance the
head of the fish is supposed to bear to the form of a miller’s thumb,
the peculiar conformation of which is produced by his mode of testing
samples of meal.
THE STICKLEBACK, (_Gastuostius aculiatus_,)
IS one of our smallest fishes, and appears to live indifferently in
fresh and salt water. It is exceedingly common in every pond, and may be
caught easily, either with a hand-net, or by fishing for it with a small
worm tied to the end of a piece of cotton; he bites at this so boldly
that he may be drawn out of the water without the aid of a hook. His
name of Stickleback is given to him from his having thin spines on the
back instead of a fin; the sides of his body are covered with thin bony
plates, and his ventral fins consist of single, strong, and sharp
spines, which constitute formidable offensive weapons.
The Stickleback, although so common, is one of the most interesting of
fishes, on account of the singularity of its habits in the breeding
season. Instead of depositing its eggs in the sand or mud, and leaving
them to take care of themselves, the Stickleback builds a curious nest
of fragments of vegetable matter, and defends this most valiantly
against all intruders until the hatching of the young; the parental
solicitude does not cease until the young Sticklebacks have grown too
big to be any longer controlled. One curious feature in the business is,
that it is the male that takes all this trouble; he builds the nest,
exposes himself to every danger in its defence, and watches anxiously
over the vagaries of his young progeny, the female having nothing to do
but to deposit her eggs in the already prepared nest.
The Stickleback is an extremely pugnacious fish. The males fight
together furiously, and the colours of their bodies become much more
brilliant while they are so occupied than at any other time.
[Illustration: THE ELECTRICAL EEL. (_Gymnotus Electricus._)]
THIS very remarkable fish is about five or six feet in length, and
twelve inches in circumference, in the thickest part of the body. The
head is broad, flat, and large; the mouth wide and destitute of teeth;
the rostrum obtuse and rounded; the eyes small and of a bluish colour;
the back of a darkish brown, the sides grey, and the abdomen of a dingy
white. Across the body there are several annular divisions, or rather
ridges of the skin, which give the fish the power of contracting or
dilating itself at pleasure. There is no dorsal fin, and the ventral
fins are also wanting, as in all the Eels. It is able to swim backwards
as well as forwards.
Mr. Bryant mentions an instance of the shock from one of these fish
being felt through a considerable thickness of wood. One morning, while
he was standing by, as a servant was emptying a tub, in which an
Electrical Eel was contained, he had lifted it entirely from the ground,
and was pouring off the water to renew it, when he received a shock so
violent as occasioned him to let the tub fall. He then called another
person to his assistance, and they lifted up the tub together, each
laying hold only on the outside. When they were pouring off the
remainder of the water, they received a shock so smart that they were
compelled to desist.
Persons have been knocked down with a stroke. One of these fish having
been taken from a net and laid upon the grass, an English sailor,
notwithstanding all the persuasions that were used to prevent him, would
insist on taking it up; but the moment he grasped it he dropped down in
a fit; his eyes were fixed, his face became livid, and it was not
without difficulty that his senses were restored. He said that the
instant he touched it “the cold ran swiftly up his arm into his body,
and pierced him to the heart.”
Humboldt tells us that when the Indians wish to catch these Eels they
drive some wild horses through the pools which the fish inhabit; and
that when the Eels have exhausted their electrical power upon the
horses, the Indians take them without difficulty. He relates an instance
in which he says that the horses, stunned with the shocks they received,
sank under water, but most of them rose again, and gained the shore,
where they lay stretched out on the ground, apparently quite exhausted
and without the power of moving, so much were they stupefied and
benumbed. In about a quarter of an hour, however, the Eels appeared to
have exhausted themselves, and, instead of attacking fresh horses that
were driven into the pond, fled before them. The Indians then entered
the water and caught as many fish as they liked.[B]
[B] See a very animated account of the capture of this fish, in
Humboldt’s “Views of Nature,” page 16 (_Bohn’s Edition_).
This most singular fish is peculiar to South America, where it is found
only in stagnant pools, at a great distance from the sea.
[Illustration: THE EEL. (_Anguilla vulgaris._)]
THE EEL resembles a serpent in its form, though no two animals can be
more different in every other respect. Eels are fresh-water fish; but as
they are very susceptible of cold, those which inhabit rivers go down
every autumn towards the sea, which is always warmer than a river, and
return in spring. They are said also to spawn in the sea, and great
numbers of young Eels are seen in spring ascending tidal rivers. Mr.
Edward Jesse, in his edition of “Walton’s Angler,” says: “A column of
them has been traced in the Thames from Somerset House to Oxford, about
the middle of May, and I have watched their progress with much interest.
No impediment stops them. They keep as much as possible close
alongshore, and as they pass watercourses, open ditches, and brooks,
&c., some of them leave the column and enter these places, along which
they eventually make their way to ponds, smaller rivers, &c. So strong
is the migratory instinct in these little eels, that when I have taken
some in a bucket and returned them to the river at some distance from
the column, they have immediately rejoined it without any deviation to
the right or left. On the banks of the Thames the passage is called
_Eel-fare_. Two observers, watching their progress at Kingston,
calculated that from sixteen to eighteen hundred passed a given line per
minute. Rennie saw (on the 13th of May) a column of young eels of
uniform size, about as thick as a crow-quill, and three inches long,
returning to the river Clyde, in almost military order, keeping within
parallel lines of about six inches. He traced it for several hours
without perceiving any diminution.” Those that live in ponds seek the
deep water for their winter quarters, and sometimes bury themselves in
the mud at the bottom. They are very tenacious of life, and will live
for a long time out of water; they are even sometimes found on the
grass, passing from one pond to another, in search, it is said, of food.
They are voracious feeders, eating frogs, snails, and other molluscous
animals, worms, the fry of fishes, and the larvæ of various insects, as
well as grass and aquatic weeds. Mr. Jesse states that he has known them
to eat young ducks, and even water-rats.
The Eel is caught in many different ways. As it seldom stirs during the
day, the best method is found to be by setting night-lines. The baits
most commonly used are lob-worms, loach, minnows, small perch, with the
fins cut off, or small pieces of any fish; but such is the voracity of
this animal that it will take almost any bait.
Spearing for Eels is a method very commonly resorted to during the
winter, when Eels imbed themselves in a state of torpidity in the muddy
banks of streams and ponds. Eel-spears have usually six or seven prongs,
with long handles. The process consists merely in plunging them into the
mud in likely places, and pulling them out again.
There seems to be no reason for supposing, as is commonly done, that
Eels are viviparous; parasitic worms have sometimes been mistaken for
the young animals.
The common Eel often weighs upwards of twenty pounds. The flesh is
tender, soft, and nourishing, but does not agree with all stomachs.
THE CONGER, OR SEA EEL, (_Conger vulgaris_,)
IS very large and thick. Its body is dusky above, and silvery below; the
dorsal and anal fins are edged with black; and the lateral line is
dotted with white. Its flesh is firm, and was much esteemed by the
ancients. It is still eaten by the poorer classes, especially in seaside
towns, but would be considered coarse and tasteless by most people in
the present day.
The voracity of the Conger Eel is very great, and it is one of the most
powerful enemies with which the fishermen of the British islands have to
contend. Being usually caught by a hook and line, it requires some care
to land and kill the large ones without danger. We are informed that, on
such occasions, they have been known to entwine themselves round the
legs of a fisherman, and fight with the utmost fury. They are almost
incredibly strong and tenacious of life. When pulled up by the line and
landed in a boat, they make a loud, hoarse, grating sound, almost
resembling the angry snarling of a dog, which often terrifies the
amateur fisherman. Unless seized with great care, they bite most
severely. It is even said that men have occasionally been permanently
maimed by them. A Conger, six feet in length, was caught in the Wash, at
Yarmouth, in April, 1808: but not without a severe contest with the man
who had seized it. The animal is stated to have risen half erect, and to
have actually knocked the fisherman down before he could secure it. This
Conger weighed only about sixty pounds: but some of the largest exceed
even a hundredweight.
Book IV.
REPTILES.
§ 1. _Serpents, or Ophidian Reptiles._
[Illustration: SERPENTS.]
SERPENTS are characterised by an elongated body, clothed in scales and
destitute of limbs, but furnished with a tail. They move by lateral
undulations of the body; and in this manner they glide with equal ease
along the bare ground, through entangled thickets or water, and up the
trunks of trees. They possess the power of fasting a great length of
time, and when they feed always swallow their prey whole, which they are
enabled to accomplish by their faculty of dilating their bodies to an
enormous size. This power is carried to such an extent that a Boa
Constrictor can swallow a bullock whole, suffering no other
inconvenience than that of lying in a state of torpor while digestion is
proceeding. Serpents generally roll themselves up when in a state of
repose, with the head in the centre; and when disturbed raise the head
before they uncoil the body. The Serpent is often made a subject of
poetry; and as it was the form adopted by the arch fiend to seduce Eve,
it is generally considered the emblem of insinuation and flattery:
“---- ---- ---- ---- on his rear,
Circular base of rising folds that tower’d
Fold above fold, surprising maze, his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes. With burnish’d neck of verdant gold, erect
Amidst his circling spires that on the grass
Floated redundant; pleasing was his shape
And lovely.... Oft he bow’d
His turret crest and sleek enamell’d neck,
Fawning, and lick’d the ground whereon she trod.”
PARADISE LOST.
The ancients paid great honours to Serpents, and sometimes called them
good genii: they frequented sepulchres and burying-places, and were
addressed like the tutelary divinities of these places. We read, in the
fifth book of the Æneid, that when the Trojan hero sacrificed to his
father’s ghost, a Serpent of this kind made his appearance:
“---- ---- and from the tomb begun to glide
His hugy bulk on seven high volumes roll’d;
Blue was his breadth of back, and streak’d with scaly gold.
Thus riding on his curls he seemed to pass
A rolling fire along, and singe the grass;
More various colours through his body run,
Than Iris when her bow imbibes the sun.
Between the rising altars and around,
The sacred monster shot along the ground;
With harmless play among the bowls he pass’d,
And with his lolling tongue assay’d the taste:
Thus fed with holy food, the wondrous guest
Within the hollow tomb retired to rest.”
DRYDEN.
This animal was exalted to the honour of being an emblem of prudence,
and even of eternity; and is often represented as the latter in Egyptian
hieroglyphics, biting his tail, so as to form a circle. Serpents are
very numerous in Africa; and Lucan, in his “Pharsalia,” gives us a very
extraordinary account of the different species, which he seems to have
drawn partly from ancient Greek authors, partly from actual traditions.
He says:
“Why plagues like these infect the Libyan air;
Why deaths unknown in various shapes appear;
Why, fruitful to destroy, the cursed land
Is temper’d thus by Nature’s secret hand;
Dark and obscure the hidden cause remains,
And still deludes the vain inquirer’s pains.”
ROWE’S “LUCAN."
Serpents differ very much in size. We are told of Serpents in the Isle
of Java measuring fifty feet in length; and in the British Museum there
is a skin of one thirty-two feet long.
[Illustration: THE VIPER, OR ADDER, (_Vipera berus_,)]
IS a venomous species of serpent that seldom exceeds the length of two
or three feet, and is of a dull yellowish brown colour with black spots,
the abdomen being entirely black; the head is nearly in the shape of a
lozenge, and much thicker than the body. The Viper is viviparous; yet it
is ascertained that the eggs are formed, though they are hatched in the
body of the mother.
The Reverend Mr. White, of Selborne, in company with a friend, surprised
a large female Viper, as she lay on the grass, basking in the sun, which
seemed very heavy and bloated. As Vipers are so venomous that they
should be destroyed, they killed her; and afterwards, being curious to
know what made her so large, they opened her, and found in her abdomen
fifteen young ones, about the size of full-grown earth-worms. This
little fry issued into the world with the true Viper spirit about them,
showing great alertness as soon as they were disengaged from the body of
their parent. They twisted and wriggled about, set themselves up, and
gaped very wide when touched with a stick; exhibiting manifest tokens of
menace and defiance, though as yet no fangs could be discovered, even by
the help of glasses.
Vipers attain their full growth in seven years; they feed on frogs,
toads, lizards, and other animals of that kind, and it is even asserted
that they catch mice and small birds, of which they seem very fond. They
cast their skin every year. The two front teeth in the upper jaw of the
Viper are furnished with a small bladder containing poison. There is no
doubt but this poison, which appears to have been infused into the jaws
of the Viper and other serpents by Providence, as a means of revenge
upon their enemies, is so harmless to the animal itself, that when
swallowed by it it only serves to accelerate its digestion. These
venomous teeth or fangs stand, each by itself, upon a small movable
bone; this arrangement enables the creature to fold down its fearful
weapons in the mouth, and to erect them instantly when it has occasion
to make use of them. The Viper is very patient of hunger, and may be
kept more than six months without food. When in confinement, it refuses
all sustenance, and the sharpness of its poison decreases in proportion:
when at liberty, it remains torpid throughout the winter; yet, when
confined, it has never been observed to take its annual repose.
The Viper is a native of many parts of this island, chiefly the dry and
chalky counties. Its flesh was formerly used for broth, and much
esteemed in medicine, particularly to restore debilitated constitutions.
It was also used as a cosmetic, being supposed to render the complexion
fair. It was probably from the use made by the ancients of this animal
in medicine that Esculapius is represented with a serpent. The best
remedy against the bite of the Viper is to suck the wound, which may be
done without danger, and after this to rub it with sweet oil, and
poultice it with bread and milk.
[Illustration: THE HORNED VIPER. (_Cerastes Hasselquistii._)]
THIS species of Viper is nearly allied to the asp, and has a pointed and
solid horny substance on each eyelid, formed of two projecting scales:
its body is of a pale yellowish or greyish colour, with distant
sub-ovate transverse brown spots; and in length it is from one to two
feet.
This species is often mentioned by the ancients. Pliny tells us that
“the serpent Cerastes hath many times four small horns, standing out
double; with moving whereof she amuseth the birds, and traineth them
unto her for to catch them, hiding all the rest of her body.”
It is found in the sandy deserts of Egypt and the neighbouring
countries, and is believed to be the Asp with which Cleopatra eluded the
disgrace of becoming a prisoner to her Roman conqueror.
[Illustration: THE RATTLE-SNAKE, (_Crotalus horridus_,)]
IS a native of the New World, and grows to five or six, and sometimes to
eight feet in length, and is nearly as thick as a man’s leg. It is not
unlike the viper, having a large head and small neck, and inflicting a
very dangerous wound. Over each eye is a large pendulous scale, the use
of which has not yet been ascertained; the body is scaly and hard,
variegated with several different colours. The principal characteristic
of this justly dreaded serpent is the rattle, a kind of instrument
resembling the curb-chain of a bridle, at the extremity of the tail; it
is formed of thin, hard, hollow bones, linked together, and rattling on
the least motion. When disturbed, the creature shakes this rattle with
considerable noise and rapidity, striking terror into all the smaller
animals, which are afraid of the destructive venom that this serpent
communicates to the wounded limb with his bite. The wound the
Rattle-snake inflicts, through the uncommon sharpness and rapid fluency
of the poison, generally terminates the torment and life of the unhappy
victim in the course of six or seven hours.
A snake of this kind exhibited in London at a menagerie of foreign
animals, in the year 1810, wounded a carpenter’s hand, who was repairing
its cage, and seeking for his rule. The man suffered the most
excruciating pain, and his life could not be saved, although medical
assistance was immediately applied, and every effort made to prevent
the dire effect of the poison. The proprietor was condemned to pay a
deodand for the injury done by the serpent.
[Illustration: THE HAJE, OR EGYPTIAN ASP. (_Naja Haje._)]
THE HAJE, or Egyptian Asp, is from three to six feet in length; it has
two teeth longer than the rest, through which the venom flows. The body
is covered with small round scales, and is of a greenish colour,
bordered with brown; its neck is capable of inflation. The jugglers of
Egypt, by pressing this Asp on the nape of the neck with the finger,
throw the animal into a kind of catalepsy, which renders it stiff and
immovable; when they say that they have changed it into a rod. The habit
which this species has of raising itself up when approached, induced the
ancient Egyptians to believe that it guarded the fields where it was
found; and it is sculptured on the gates of their temples as an emblem
of the protecting divinity of the world.
[Illustration: THE HOODED SERPENT, OR COBRA DI CAPELLO, (_Naja
tripudians_,)]
CALLED by the Indians the _Nagao_, is from three to eight feet long,
with two long fangs in the upper jaw. It has a broad neck, and a mark of
dark brown on the forehead; which, when viewed frontwise, looks like a
pair of spectacles; but behind, like the head of a cat. The eyes are
fierce and full of fire; the head is small, and the nose flat, though
covered with very large scales, of a yellowish ash-colour: the skin is
white, and the large tumour on the neck is flat and covered with oblong
smooth scales. This serpent is extremely dreaded by the British
residents in India, as its bite has hitherto been found to be incurable,
and the sufferer generally dies in half an hour.
Of this kind are the dancing-snakes, which are carried in baskets
throughout Hindoostan, and procure a maintenance for a set of people,
who play a few simple notes on the flute, with which the snakes seem
much delighted, and keep time by a graceful motion of the head; erecting
about half their length from the ground, and following the music with
gentle curves, like the undulating lines of a swan’s neck. It is a
well-attested fact, that, when a house is infested with these snakes,
and some other of the coluber genus, which destroy poultry and small
domestic animals, as also by the larger serpents of the boa tribe, the
musicians are sent for; who, by playing on a flageolet, find out their
hiding places, and charm them to destruction: for no sooner do the
snakes hear the music, than they come softly from their retreat, and are
easily taken. I imagine these musical snakes were known in Palestine,
from the Psalmist comparing the ungodly to the deaf adder, which
stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm
he never so wisely.
[Illustration: THE SNAKE, (_Coluber natrix_,)]
IS the largest of all English serpents, sometimes exceeding four feet in
length. The colour of the body is variegated with yellow, green, white,
and regular spots of brown and black. They seem to enjoy themselves when
basking in the sun, at the foot of an old wall. This animal is perfectly
innoxious, although many reports have been circulated and believed to
the contrary; it feeds on frogs, worms, mice, and various kinds of
insects, and passes the greater part of the winter in a state of
torpidity. In the spring they re-appear, and at this season uniformly
cast their skins. This is a process that they also seem to undergo in
autumn. Mr. White says: “About the middle of September we found in a
field, near a hedge, the slough of a large snake, which seemed to have
been newly cast. It appeared as if turned wrong side outward, and as if
it had been drawn off backward, like a stocking or a woman’s glove. Not
only the whole skin, but even the scales from the eyes were peeled off,
and appeared in the slough like a pair of spectacles. The reptile, at
the time of changing his coat, had entangled himself intricately in the
grass and weeds, in order that the friction of the stalks and blades
might promote this curious shifting of his exuvia.”
[Illustration: THE BOA CONSTRICTOR.]
THIS immense animal is often twenty feet in length, and sometimes even
thirty-five; the ground colour of its skin is yellowish grey, on which
is distributed, along the back, a series of large chain-like, reddish
brown, and sometimes perfectly red, variegations, with other smaller and
more irregular marks and spots. It is a native of South America, where
it chiefly resides in the most retired situations in woods and marshes.
The bite of this snake is not venomous, nor is the animal believed to
bite at all, except to seize its prey. It kills its prey by twining
round it and crushing its bones.
The _Python_ and the _Anaconda_, which are at least as large as the Boa
Constrictor, are found chiefly in the Indian Islands: they are very
similar both in form and colouring to the Boa, and have exactly the same
habits.
These monsters will attack and devour the largest animals, of which the
following is an instance: A Boa had for some time been waiting near the
brink of a pool in expectation of its prey, when a buffalo appeared.
Having darted upon the affrighted beast, it instantly began to encircle
him with its voluminous twistings, and at every twist the bones of the
buffalo were heard to crack as loud as the report of a gun. It was in
vain that the animal struggled and bellowed; its enormous enemy entwined
it so closely that at length all its bones were crushed to pieces, like
those of a malefactor on the wheel, and the whole body was reduced to
one uniform mass: the serpent then untwined its folds in order to
swallow its prey at leisure. To prepare for this, and also to make it
slip down the throat more smoothly, it licked the whole body over,
covering it with a mucilaginous substance. It then began to swallow it,
at the end that afforded the least resistance, and in the act of
swallowing, the throat suffered so great a dilation as to take in a
substance that was thrice its own ordinary thickness.
[Illustration: THE AMPHISBÆNA. (_Amphisbæna fuliginosa._)]
THIS name is now applied only to a genus of South American reptiles,
which are of a harmless nature, being destitute of those fangs which
prepare the venom in poisonous serpents. It is indeed doubtful whether
the Amphisbænas are really snakes, and by many naturalists they are
arranged amongst the lizards, although they have no limbs. The head is
so small, and the tail so thick and short, that at first sight it is
difficult to distinguish one from the other; and this circumstance,
united to the animal’s habit of proceeding either backwards or forwards
as occasion may require, gave rise to the supposition throughout the
native regions of the Amphisbæna, that it had two heads, one at each
extremity, and that it was impossible to destroy one by simple cutting,
as the two heads would mutually seek one another and reunite! The colour
of the commonest species is a deep brown varied with patches of white.
The body is ornamented by more than two hundred rings, and the tail by
about twenty-five. The eyes are almost concealed by a thick membrane,
and this, together with their small size, has given rise to the idea
that the Amphisbæna is blind. It grows to the length of eighteen inches
or two feet. Its food consists of worms and insects, and especially
ants, in the mounds of which it generally conceals itself. The ancients
gave the name of Amphisbæna to what they considered a two-headed
serpent; but it is not known with certainty which of the serpent tribe
they meant, as their Amphisbæna is described by Lucan as venomous,
though in his lines elegance of language, beauty of versification, and
liveliness of fancy, have perhaps a greater claim than truth to the
admiration of the reader:--
“With hissings fierce, dire Amphisbænas rear
Their double heads, and rouse the soldier’s fear.
Eager he flies: more eager they pursue;
On every side the onset quick renew!
With equal swiftness face or shun the prey,
And follow fast when thought to run away.
Thus on the looms the busy shuttles glide,
Alternate fly, and shoot at either side.”
§ II. _Batrachian Reptiles._
[Illustration: THE FROG. (_Rana temporaria._)]
WHEN this reptile issues from the egg it is merely a black, oval mass,
with a slender tail. This tadpole, as it is then called, is the embryo
of the Frog, and when it has attained a certain size its body gradually
acquires the form of that of the Frog, its legs sprout from its sides,
and finally its tail is cast off. This metamorphosis is one of the most
curious in nature, and deserves our observation. Like other reptiles, it
is not necessary for it to breathe in order to put its blood into
circulation, as it has a communication between the two ventricles of the
heart. It lives during spring in ponds, brooks, muddy ditches, marshy
grounds, and other watery places, in summer in corn-fields and pasture
land. Its voice proceeds from two bladders, one on each side of the
mouth, which it can fill with wind. When it croaks, it puts its head
out of the water. The hinder legs of the Frog are much longer than the
fore ones, to help it in its repeated and extensive leaps. The whole of
the body bears a little resemblance to some of the warm-blooded animals,
principally about the thighs and the toes. The Frog is extremely
tenacious of life, and often survives the abscission of its head for
several hours. It is supposed that Frogs spend the whole winter at the
bottom of some stagnant water in a state of torpidity.
There are several species of the Frog; they are all oviparous, and the
eggs are gelatinous. The _Edible Frog_ is the species used in France and
Germany for food; it is considerably larger than the common kind, and
though rare in England, is very plentiful in France, Germany, and Italy.
Its colour is olive green, marked with black patches on the back, and on
its limbs with transverse bars of the same. From the tip of the nose
three distinct stripes of pale yellow extend to the extremity of the
body, the middle one slightly depressed, and the lateral ones
considerably elevated. The upper parts are of a pale whitish colour,
tinged with green, and marked with irregular brown spots. These
creatures are brought from the country, thirty or forty thousand at a
time, to Vienna, and sold to the great dealers, who have froggeries for
them, which are pits four or five feet deep, dug in the ground, the
mouth covered with a board, and in severe weather with straw. In the
year 1793, there were but three great dealers in Vienna, by whom those
persons who brought them to the markets ready for the cook were
supplied. Only the legs and thighs are eaten, and these are always
skinned. They are rather dear, being considered a great delicacy. The
Edible Frogs are caught in various ways, sometimes in the night, by
means of nets, into which they are attracted by the light of torches
that are carried out for the purpose, and sometimes by hooks, baited
with worms, insects, flesh, or even a bit of red cloth. They are
exceedingly voracious, and seize everything that moves before them.
[Illustration: THE TOAD, (_Bufo vulgaris_,)]
WHOSE very name seems to carry with it something of an opprobrious
meaning, is not unworthy the attention of the observer of nature; for,
though prejudice and false associations have affixed a stigma on certain
species of animals, none of the works of our Creator are despicable, but
all, the more minutely they are examined, the greater claim they are
found to have to our admiration. Somewhat like the frog in the body, it
also resembles that animal in its habits; but the frog leaps, while the
Toad crawls. It is an error to suppose the Toad to be a noxious and
venomous animal; it is as harmless as the frog, and, like some of the
human kind, only labours under the stigma of undeserved calumny. Several
stories have been related of its spitting poison, or knowing how to
expel the venom it may have received from the spider or any other
animals; but these fables have been long exploded. A curious and yet
inexplicable phenomenon is that Toads have been said to be found alive
in the centre of large blocks of stone, where they must have subsisted
without food and respiration for a number of years. The following are
recorded examples: In the year 1719, M. Hubert, professor of philosophy
at Caen, was witness to a living Toad being taken from the solid trunk
of an elm-tree. It was lodged exactly in the centre, and filled the
whole of the space that contained it. The tree was in every other
respect firm and sound. Dr. Bradley saw a Toad taken from the trunk of a
large oak. In the year 1733, a live Toad was discovered by M. Grayburg
in a hard and solid block of stone which had been dug up in a quarry in
Gothland. On being touched with a stick upon the head, he informs us, it
contracted its eyes as if asleep, and when the stick was moved gradually
opened them. Its mouth had no aperture, but was closed round with a
yellowish skin. On being pressed with the stick on the back, a small
quantity of clear water issued from it behind, and it immediately died.
A living Toad was found in a block of marble at Chillingham Castle,
belonging to Lord Tankerville, near Alnwick, in Northumberland.
Some of these cases are related in a manner which renders it difficult
to doubt that the observers described _what they thought they saw_; but
the occurrence of the phenomena, as described, seems to be so utterly
impossible that we are forced to suppose that those writers have been
misled in some way. That there is some foundation for many of the
stories in question we can have no doubt, but we must look forward to
further observations for their explanation; as Mr. Bell says: “To
believe that a Toad, inclosed within a mass of clay, or other similar
substance, shall exist wholly without air or food, for hundreds of
years, and at length be liberated alive, and capable of crawling, on the
breaking up of the matrix, now become a solid rock, is certainly a
demand upon our credulity which few would be ready to answer.”
With regard to the length of life of these animals, it is impossible to
state anything decisive, but several facts prove that some of them have
been gifted with astonishing longevity.
A correspondent of Mr. Pennant’s supplied him with some curious
particulars respecting a domestic Toad, which continued in the same
place for _thirty-six_ years. It frequented the steps before the
hall-door of a gentleman’s house in Devonshire. By being constantly fed,
it was rendered so tame as always to come out of its hole in the evening
when a candle was brought, and to look up as if expecting to be carried
into the house, where it was frequently fed with insects. An animal of
this description being so much noticed and befriended excited the
curiosity of all who came to the house, and even females so far
conquered the horrors instilled into them by their nurses as generally
to request to see it fed. It appeared most partial to flesh-maggots,
which were kept for it in bran. It would follow them on the table, and,
when within a proper distance, would fix its eyes and remain motionless
for a little while, apparently to prepare for the stroke which was to
follow, and which was instantaneous. It threw out its tongue to a great
distance, and the insect, stuck by the glutinous matter to its tip, was
swallowed by a motion quicker than the eye could follow. After having
been kept more than thirty-six years it was at length destroyed by a
tame raven, which one day seeing it at the mouth of its hole pulled it
out, and so wounded it that it died.
[Illustration: THE SURINAM TOAD, (_Pipa Americana_,)]
WHICH is one of the ugliest of all Toads, is remarkable for the mode in
which the young are developed. The female, like that of the common Toad,
deposits her eggs at the edge of the water, but instead of leaving them
there, the male takes the mass of eggs and places them on the back of
his partner, pressing them down into a number of curious pits, which are
produced in that part at the breeding season. When each of the pits has
received its egg, the orifice becomes closed by a sort of lid, and the
young animal goes through all its changes from the tadpole to the
perfect Toad in this rather confined space. This curious Toad is found
in Guiana; it frequents the dark corners of the houses, and,
notwithstanding its intense ugliness, is eaten by the natives.
[Illustration: THE COMMON NEWT. (_Triton aquaticus._)]
BESIDES the frogs and toads, which have no tails when arrived at their
perfect form, there are several Batrachian Reptiles in which this
appendage is permanent. The best known of these are the Newts, of which
two kinds are very common in ponds during the spring. The common Newt is
three or four inches in length, and is of a pale brown colour above, and
orange with black spots below. It has four little webbed feet and a
flattened tail. In swimming, the legs are turned backwards to lessen
resistance, and the animal is propelled principally by the tail. Their
progression at the bottom of the water and on land is performed
creepingly with their small and weak feet. These animals live during the
autumn and winter under stones and clods of earth, and come down to the
water in February or March for the purpose of depositing their eggs
there. The eggs are carefully inclosed by the parents in the leaves of
aquatic plants. The young, when first hatched, are in the form of
tadpoles; the legs afterwards sprout from the sides of the body, but the
tail is not cast off, as in the frogs. The old Newts remain in the water
until July or August.
THE GREAT NEWT. (_Triton palustris._)
THIS, the largest British species of the Newt, is by no means uncommon
in our ponds and ditches. It is about six inches in length; its back is
dark, and its under side is orange-coloured, sprinkled with small black
spots; altogether it is darker and richer in colour than the common
species. During the breeding season the males of both species, but
especially those of the larger one, are adorned with membranous crests,
and their colours become much more vivid. Their tenacity of life is very
great; when mutilated, they will reproduce the lost parts, and they may
be frozen into a solid lump of ice without losing their vitality. With
regard to its habits, this animal is a most voracious creature, and
devours unsparingly aquatic insects, and, in fact, any small animal
which happens to come in its way. For tadpoles it seems to have a
special predilection, and its greediness is such that it has not escaped
the charge of cannibalism. These Newts have more than once been taken in
the act of devouring individuals of the smaller species, but of such a
size that there seems to have been considerable difficulty in swallowing
them.
§ III. _Saurian Reptiles._
[Illustration: THE LIZARD. (_Lacerta vivipara._)]
THIS is a British species, and is one of the very few reptiles found in
Ireland. Its movements are most graceful. It comes out of its
hiding-place during the day to bask in the sun, and when it sees an
insect it darts like lightning upon it, seizing it with its sharp little
teeth, and soon swallowing it. The young are produced in eggs, which are
generally hatched the moment they are laid, the skin of the egg being so
thin that the young Lizard can be seen through it.
The _Green Lizard_ (_Lacerta viridis_) is a beautiful creature. Its
colours are more brilliant and beautiful than those of any other
European species, and exhibit a rich and varied mixture of darker and
lighter green, interspersed with specks and marks of yellow, brown,
black, and sometimes even red. The head is covered with large angular
scales, and the rest of the upper parts with very small ones. The tail
is generally much longer than the body. Beneath the throat there is a
kind of collar, formed by scales of much darker colour than the rest of
the animal.
The Lizard seems occasionally to lay aside its natural gentleness of
disposition, but no further than for the purpose of obtaining food. Mr.
Edwards once surprised a Lizard in the act of fighting with a small
bird, as she sat on her nest in a vine against a wall, with
newly-hatched young. He supposed that the Lizard would have made a prey
of the latter, could it have driven the old bird from her nest. He
watched the contest for some time; but, on his near approach, the Lizard
dropped to the ground, and the bird flew off.
THE IGUANA, (_Iguana tuberculata_,)
WHICH is found commonly in the tropical parts of America, is a large
kind of lizard, often measuring four or five feet in length. It has a
crest of long teeth, looking like a comb, along its back; its tail is
long, tapering, and slender; and beneath its throat it has a sort of
pouch which it can dilate considerably. The colour of this lizard is
greenish, with brown bands on the tail. The Iguana is found in trees,
and feeds chiefly on fruits and other vegetable substances. It is
usually caught when reposing upon a branch, and by a very simple
process: the hunter approaches it whistling, and the animal is stupid
enough to sit still, no doubt enjoying the music, until a noose,
attached to the end of a stick, is passed over its head. It is captured
for the sake of its flesh, which is regarded as very delicate.
An Iguana, which was kept for some time in a hothouse at Bristol, was
fed on the leaves of kidney bean plants, which it devoured eagerly,
after refusing every other kind of food that had been offered it. It
seems certain that Iguanas in their natural state are not entirely
herbivorous, but feed on insects, the eggs of birds, and other animal
matter, as well as on plants. They will occasionally take to the water,
and seem to swim with ease. Notwithstanding its repulsive and even
frightful appearance, the Iguana is perfectly harmless and inoffensive.
[Illustration: THE FLYING LIZARD, OR DRAGON.
(_Draco volans._)]
THE Flying Dragons, those terrible creatures described by the older
naturalists, are undoubtedly fabulous and, indeed, impossible creatures,
and either entirely products of the imagination of the vulgar, or
founded upon specimens manufactured for the express purpose of taking in
the naturalist, who, in old times, was a little too ready to believe in
wonders of this kind. The wings of a bat attached to a body and legs
made up from half a dozen animals would furnish a capital Dragon in
former times. Modern naturalists apply the name of Dragon to some little
lizards inhabiting the East Indies, and which have none of those
terrible qualities ascribed to the fabled monsters of antiquity. They
are related to the Iguanas, but have on each side of the body a
membranous expansion, stiffened by the prolongation into it of the first
six false ribs; this acts as a sort of parachute, and enables the little
creatures, not to fly, but to leap or glide through the air to
considerable distances between one tree and another. They live entirely
in trees, and feed on insects.
[Illustration: THE CHAMELEON. (_Chamæleo vulgaris._)]
“A lizard’s body, lean and long,
A fish’s head, a serpent’s tongue;
Its foot with triple claw disjoin’d;
And what a length of tail behind!
How slow its pace! and then its hue!”
MERRICK.
THE CHAMELEON is a small animal, about ten inches long, and its tail
nearly the same length. Its body is covered with small compressed scaly
granules; its back is edged, and its tail round, long, and tapering. Its
feet have each five toes, which are situated three one way and two
another, in order to enable it to lay firm hold of the branches: but
wherever it happens that these are too large for the animal to grasp
with its feet, it coils round them its long, prehensile tail, and fixes
its claws strongly into the bark. When walking on the ground, it steps
forward in an extremely cautious manner, seeming never to lift one foot
until it is well assured of the firmness of the rest. From these
precautions, its motions have a ridiculous appearance of gravity, when
contrasted with the smallness of its size, and the activity that might
be expected from an animal so nearly allied to some of the most lively
in the creation. Though the Chameleon is repulsive in its appearance, it
is perfectly harmless. It feeds only on insects, for which the structure
of its tongue is well adapted, being long and protrusive, and furnished
with a dilated, glutinous, and somewhat tubular tip. With this it seizes
on insects with the greatest ease, darting it out and immediately
retracting it, with the prey thus secured, which it swallows whole. The
strange notion that Chameleons were able to feed on air, seems to have
arisen merely from the circumstance of these animals, like all others of
the lizard family, being able to subsist for a great length of time
without food. The eyes of the Chameleon have the singular property of
looking at the same instant in different directions; one of them may be
seen to move when the other is at rest, or one will be directed forward,
whilst the other is attending to some object behind, or in a similar
manner upward and downward. It has the power of inflating its body to
double its ordinary size, and at these times it is transparent. It can
undoubtedly change its colour, but it is not true that it takes that of
any object it may be near. On the contrary, its change of colour depends
on its being exposed to a very strong light; and it only changes from
its natural dull grey to a beautiful green, spotted unequally with red.
Africa is the native country of the Chameleons, of which there are
fourteen species; but two of them are found also in different parts of
Asia and New Holland, and one (_C. vulgaris_) in the south of Europe;
but this animal has never been found in any part of America.
[Illustration: THE CROCODILE OF THE NILE.
(_Crocodilus vulgaris._)]
THIS animal is frequently thirty feet long. The female lays its eggs in
the sand, where they are hatched by the heat of the sun; and the mother
is said to take no care of the young ones. The head of this species, as
of all the true Crocodiles, is twice as long as it is broad; the snout
is pointed and unequal, and the eyes, which are small, are placed very
far asunder. The colour is a greenish bronze, speckled with brown, and
of a yellowish green underneath: six rows of nearly equal-sized plates
run along the back. This Crocodile is less ferocious than some of the
other kinds, and, when taken young, may be tamed. It is common in
Senegal and other parts of Africa, as well as in the Nile.
The method which the African adopts to kill this formidable creature
displays considerable ingenuity and courage. Having wrapped a thick
cloth round his arm, and provided himself with a long knife, he proceeds
to the known haunt, usually a reedy swamp or river. The moment the
Crocodile perceives him it rushes at him with open mouth, but is coolly
received by its antagonist, who thrusts his covered arm between its
jaws. The teeth cannot pierce through the thick folds of the cloth, so
that his arm only gets a smart squeeze, and before the creature can
disengage itself, he adroitly cuts its throat.
The _Gavials_ have very long, slender snouts, and their hind feet are
webbed to the ends of the toes. These animals grow to the length of
twenty-five feet, and when large are as dangerous and destructive as the
Nilotic Crocodile. They are found abundantly in the Ganges, and in the
fresh waters of most parts of India and its islands.
A short time before M. Navarette was at the Manillas, he was told that,
as a young woman was washing her feet at one of the rivers, an Alligator
seized and carried her off. Her husband, to whom she had been but just
married, hearing her screams, threw himself headlong into the water,
and, with a dagger in his hand, pursued the robber. He overtook and
fought the animal with such success as to recover his wife; but,
unfortunately for her brave rescuer, she died before she could be
brought to the shore.
[Illustration: THE ALLIGATOR, OR CAYMAN.
(_Alligator lucius._)]
THE habits of the Alligator are much the same as those of the
crocodile. The principal mark of distinction is, that the former has its
head and part of the neck more smooth than the latter, and the snout is
considerably more wide and flat, as well as more rounded at the
extremity. The largest of these animals do not usually exceed eighteen
feet. Alligators are natives of the warmer parts of America, and are the
dread of all living animals. Their voracity is so great that they do not
spare even mankind.
The voice of the Alligator is loud and harsh. They have an unpleasant
and powerful musky scent. M. Pagés says, that near one of the rivers in
America, where they were numerous, their effluvia was so strong as to
impregnate his provisions, and even to give them the nauseous taste of
rotten musk. This effluvium proceeds chiefly from four glands, two of
which are situated in the groin, near each thigh, and the other two at
the breast, under each fore leg. Dampier informs us that, when his men
killed an Alligator, they generally took out these glands, and, after
having dried them, wore them in their hats by way of perfume.
The following anecdote of the voracity of this animal is related by
Waterton, in his “Wanderings in South America”:--“One Sunday evening,
some years ago, as I was walking with Don Felipe de Ynciarte, governor
of Angustura, on the bank of the Oroonoque, ‘Stop here a minute or two,
Don Carlos,’ said he to me, ‘while I recount a sad accident. One fine
evening last year, as the people of Angustura were sauntering up and
down here, in the Alameda, I was within twenty yards of this place, when
I saw a large Cayman rush out of the river, seize a man, and carry him
down, before anybody had it in his power to assist him. The screams of
the poor fellow were terrible, as the Cayman was running off with him.
He plunged into the river with his prey: we instantly lost sight of him,
and never saw or heard him more.’”
§ IV. _Chelonian Reptiles._
[Illustration: THE COMMON, OR GREEK TORTOISE.
(_Testudo Græca._)]
THIS animal has a small head, four feet, and a tail, which it can gather
within the shell in such a way that the top and under part meet
together, and so closely, that the greatest strength cannot separate
them. The eye is destitute of an upper lid, the under one serving to
defend that organ. The upper shell, composed of thirty-seven
compartments, is convex, and so strong, that a loaded cart can pass over
it without injuring the creature inside. In winter, Tortoises are said
to bury themselves in the ground, or retire to some cavern or hole,
which they line with moss, grass, and leaves, and where they pass in
safe and solitary retirement the whole of this season. The Tortoise is
very tenacious of life, and is no less remarkable for its longevity, as
it is ascertained that one lived upwards of one hundred and twenty years
in the garden of Lambeth Palace.
This animal is found in most of the countries near the Mediterranean
Sea, in Corsica, Sardinia, and some of the islands of the Archipelago,
as well as in many parts of the north of Africa.
[Illustration: THE GREEN TURTLE. (_Chelonia midas._)]
MOST of the Turtles are considered very delicate food, especially the
green species. Some of them are so large as to weigh from four to eight
hundred pounds. Dampier mentions an immensely large one that was caught
at Port Royal, in the Bay of Campeachy. It was nearly six feet long, and
four feet broad. A son of Captain Roch, a boy about ten years old, went
in the shell, from the shore to his father’s ship, which was about a
quarter of a mile distant.
Turtle generally ascend from the sea, and crawl on the beach, for the
purpose of laying their eggs (which are as large sometimes as those of a
common hen), sometimes to the number of fifty or sixty at a time. The
young ones, as soon as they are hatched, crawl down to the water.
Turtles are caught, when sleeping on land, by turning them on their
backs; for as they cannot turn themselves over again, all means of
escape is denied them. The lean of the Green Turtle tastes and looks
like veal, without any fishy flavour. The fat is as green as grass, and
very sweet. The introduction of Turtle as an article of food into
England, appears to have taken place within the last eighty or ninety
years. They are common in Jamaica, and in most of the islands of the
East and West Indies. Green Turtles are sometimes caught on the shores
of Europe, driven thither by stress of weather. In the year 1752, one,
six feet long and four feet broad, weighing between eight and nine
hundred pounds, was caught in the harbour of Dieppe, after a storm. In
1754, a still larger one, upwards of eight feet long, was caught near
Antioche, and was carried to the Abbey of Longveau, near Vannes, in
Brittany; and in the year 1810, a small one was caught amongst the
submarine rocks near Christchurch, in Hampshire.
The reader will remember how delighted Robinson Crusoe was to find a
large Turtle which, he says, contained three score eggs. Behold him
dragging it home.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE, (_Chelonia imbricata_,)]
HAS received its name from the peculiar formation of the upper jaw,
which terminates in a curved point, like the beak of a bird of prey. It
is smaller than the Green Turtle, the largest specimens being about
three feet in length. Its flesh is a very indifferent, if not
unwholesome, article of food; but the horny plates with which its back
is covered, and which lie over one another like the slates on the roof
of a house, are beautifully mottled, and constitute the well-known
tortoiseshell of commerce, which is so much used for making combs and
various ornamental articles. It is only the best kind of tortoiseshell,
however, that is taken from the Hawk’s-bill Turtle. The shell that is
usually seen is taken from commoner kinds. A very large quantity of
tortoise-shell is imported into Europe every year, and the traffic in it
forms a very important part of the trade of those countries in which
turtles abound.
[Illustration: THE LEATHERY TURTLE, (_Sphargis coriacea_,)]
HAS its back covered with a sort of leathery skin, instead of the horny
plates of the other turtles. It is a very large species, measuring eight
feet or more in length, and weighing as much as a thousand pounds. It is
chiefly found in the Mediterranean; it is, however, occasionally found
on the other coasts of Europe, and a few specimens, some of them
weighing seven or eight hundred pounds, have been caught in England. The
flesh is not considered good, and in some cases great suffering has been
occasioned by eating it. In 1748, a Leathery Turtle, which had been
caught near Scarborough, was purchased by a gentleman, who invited
several friends to taste it. Though warned that the flesh was
unwholesome, one of the guests ate some, but was seized soon after with
dreadful sickness. This should be a warning to the curious to be careful
how they “eat strange flesh.”
BOOK V.
MOLLUSCOUS ANIMALS.
§ I. _Bivalves, or those having two shells._
[Illustration: THE PEARL OYSTER. (_Avicula Margaritifera._)]
WHO that sees the beauty and delicacy of pearls would imagine that they
were the production of disease? Such, however, is the case, as they are
either formed in the body of the oyster which inhabits the shell; or
they rise from cracks in the shell itself, the delicate, silvery,
half-transparent lining of which forms the substance generally called
Mother-of-Pearl, or Nacre. Their formation is generally caused by the
introduction of some foreign body between the mantle or skin of the
animal and its shell; the irritation thus produced causes successive
coats of pearly matter to be deposited on the intruding object, and thus
the pearl is formed. The best pearls are those which are fairly imbedded
in the substance of the mantle. These shells are found in the Persian
Gulf and at Ceylon, where they form an important article of commerce.
The Chinese form pearls by casting into the shell of a certain kind of
muscle artificial beads, which at the end of a year become covered with
a pearly crust, in such a manner that they cannot be distinguished from
the natural pearl.[C]
[C] For a very interesting article on this subject, see Beckmann’s
“History of Inventions,” vol. i. p. 259. (_Bohn’s Standard Library._)
[Illustration: THE COMMON OYSTER, (_Ostrea edulis_,]
HAS long been in favour with man for its delicacy as an article of food;
the Lucrine lake used to be as much in renown among the Romans for the
choicest kind of Oysters, as Cancalle Bay with the French, and the
Colchester beds with us. The two shells of the Oyster are generally
unequal in size; the hinge is without teeth, but furnished with a
somewhat oval cavity, and generally with lateral transverse grooves.
Oysters sometimes grow to a very large size; in the East Indies they are
said sometimes to measure nearly two feet in diameter.
The principal breeding season of oysters is in the months of April and
May, when they cast their young, which are enveloped in slime, and in
this state called _spats_ by the fishermen, upon rocks, stones, shells,
or any other hard substance that happens to be near the place where they
lie; and to these the spats immediately adhere. Till they obtain their
film or crust, they are somewhat like the end of a candle, but of a
greenish hue. The substances to which they adhere, of whatever nature,
are called _cultch_. From the spawning time till about the end of July,
Oysters are said to be sick; but by the end of August they become
perfectly recovered; from May till August they are out of season and
unwholesome. The Oyster-fishery of our principal coasts is regulated by
a court of admiralty. In the month of May the fishermen are allowed to
take the Oysters, in order to separate the spawn from the cultch, the
latter of which is thrown in again, for the purpose of preserving the
bed for the future. After this month it is felony to carry away the
cultch, and otherwise punishable to take any Oyster, between whose
shells, when closed, a shilling will rattle. The reason of the heavy
penalty on destroying the cultch is, that when this is taken away,
muscles and cockles will breed on the bed; and, by gradually occupying
all the places on which the spawn should be cast, will destroy the
Oysters.
The Oyster has been represented, by many authors, as an animal destitute
not only of motion, but of every species of sensation. It is able,
however, to perform movements which are perfectly consonant to its
wants, to the dangers it apprehends, and to the enemies by which it is
attacked. The gills, through which the Oyster breathes, are what is
commonly called the beard, and are very indigestible. The scallop is
nearly allied to the Oyster.
[Illustration: THE COMMON COCKLE. (_Cardium edule._)]
FEW of our shell-fish are more common, in inlets and bays near the
mouths of rivers, than these. In such situations they are usually found
immersed at the depth of two or three inches in the sand, the place of
each being marked by a small, circular, depressed spot. When they open
their shells, the entrance into them is protected by a soft membrane,
which entirely closes up the front, except in two places, at each of
which there is a small, yellow, and fringed tube; by means of which they
receive and eject the water which conveys to their body the nutriment
necessary for their support.
Cockles are in great request as food among the labouring classes, and
are caught chiefly in the winter months. Their size varies from five or
six inches to half an inch in diameter. The shell is generally white; it
has twenty-six longitudinal ridges, is transversely wrinkled, and has
somewhat imbricated striæ. The foot of these animals is largely
developed, and is to them a most important organ, as they use it not
merely for progression, but in the excavation of hollows in the sand or
mud in which they dwell.
The _Chama_, which is akin to the cockle, was used by the ancients to
engrave various figures upon, from which circumstance those small
bas-reliefs, so valued now, have obtained among the Italians and
collectors the name of _Cameos_. The shells of some of these are
decorated with red or yellow stripes, diverging from the hinge, and
spreading to the edges. The _Giant Chama_ has been found to weigh more
than five hundred pounds, and the oyster-like animal within was large
enough to furnish a meal for twenty men. The animals which inhabit these
shells are sometimes called Clams. The shells are often used in Catholic
countries for containing holy water.
[Illustration: THE PHOLAS. (_Pholas dactylus._)]
THIS is a shell of a rather elongated form, gaping at both ends, and
terminated in front by a point; it is white and chalky in its
appearance, and the anterior end is roughened by numerous sharp spines
and tubercles. The animal which inhabits this shell bores deeply into
the rocks of the sea-shore, forming cylindrical holes, in which it
lives; and the water which it requires for its food and respiration is
conveyed to and from the interior of the shell by a pair of tubes which
reach to the outer orifice of its dwelling-place. It is supposed that
the Pholas is enabled to bore into the hard rock by means of its large
and strong foot, but this is still a matter of dispute.
There are many other boring shells, most of which are related to the
Pholas. Some of them burrow in rocks, others in wood, and some
indifferently in either material. Of the wood-borers, the most
remarkable is the _Ship Worm_ (_Teredo navalis_), which penetrates
deeply into floating or submerged timber, and lines the cavity of its
burrow with a coating of shell. In this way the Teredo has often done
much injury to piles and other woodwork exposed to the sea, and in 1731
and 1732 it excited so much alarm in Holland by attacking the piles of
the great dikes, that even statesmen condescended to study its natural
history. We must remember, however, that in the grand economy of nature
even this destructive creature has its use; by penetrating in every
direction through any floating mass of timber it promotes the breaking
up of the latter, and prevents the surface of the sea from being
encumbered with quantities of wreck.
[Illustration: 1. THE MUSSEL. (_Mytilus edulis._)]
LIKE the oyster, the Mussel inhabits a bivalve shell, to which it
adheres by a strong cartilaginous tie. The shells of several of the
species are beautiful. The Mussel possesses the property of locomotion,
which it performs with the member called its tongue, by which it gets
hold of the rock, and is enabled to draw itself along; it has also the
property of emitting a kind of thread, called the byssus, which, fixing
the sides of the shell upon the ground, answers the purpose of a cable,
to keep the body of the fish steady.
§ II. _Univalves._
2. THE ADMIRAL.
ONE of the cone-shells, the inhabitant of which is a kind of snail, with
a very distinct head. If nature has taken a delight in painting the
wings of birds, the skins of quadrupeds, and the scales of fishes, she
seems not to have been less pleased in pencilling the shells of these
inhabitants of the deep. The variety, brightness, and versatility of the
colouring have long been deservedly the object of man’s admiration; and
we cannot help being astonished at the richness which a cabinet of
well-selected shells presents to the eye.
THE TIGER COWRY. (_Cypræa Tigris._)
THE Cowries or Porcelain shells are amongst the most beautiful of the
univalves. The shells are generally of an elegant oval form, with no
visible spire; the mouth is a long slit on the middle of the lower
surface, with two nearly equal lips toothed along their margins; the
surface is most beautifully polished, and generally adorned with rich
colours, arranged in varied and elegant patterns. The Tiger Cowry, which
is one of the commonest, is rather broad, and very convex; it is of a
white colour, covered with numerous dark brown spots. It is usually four
or five inches in length, and inhabits the seas of India. The _Money
Cowry_ (_Cypræa moneta_) is a little Indian species, which is used in
place of money in some countries, especially the interior of Africa. It
is imported into England for exportation to Africa in large quantities;
as much as 300 tons having been landed at Liverpool in one year.
THE WHELK, (_Buccinum undatum_,)
IS a common British shell-fish of considerable size, which is obtained
in large quantities by dredging, and used as food. In London it is sold
commonly at stalls in the streets, we believe in a pickled state. The
mouth of this animal is furnished with a powerful rasping proboscis, by
means of which it is able to bore through the shells of other mollusca.
[Illustration: THE SNIPE SHELL, (_Murex haustellus_, or _cornutus_,)]
SO called on account of the length of a prominency coming out of the
shell. It is surrounded with blunt prickles, and the colour of the whole
is elegantly variegated.
THE PERIWINKLE, (_Littornia littorea_,)
IS too well known to require any description. It is found in
incalculable numbers all round the European coasts, and captured in
immense quantities as an article of food.
[Illustration: THE LIMPET. (_Patella._)]
THE shape of this shell is pyramidal; it adheres to the rock with such
strength, that it can only be removed by means of a knife or a strong
blow. The apex of the shell is sometimes sharp, sometimes obtuse, and
often surrounded with points and sharp prickles. When thoroughly
cleansed the shell is generally of a beautiful purple tint of great
brilliancy, though the animal that lives under this magnificent roof is
a kind of snail, disagreeable to the eye and insipid to the palate. They
are found on the rocks, which are incessantly beaten by the surges and
breakers, on the sea-shores of almost every country in the world. It is
not by any glutinous liquid, as it has been asserted, that this fish
adheres so strongly to the rock; but by the simple process of producing
a vacuum between its foot and the rock to which it affixes itself.
The variety which is thrown into the sum of animated beings is so
wonderfully great, that naturalists have reckoned more than a hundred
and twenty-nine species of Limpets, and nearly allied genera; the
difference arising principally out of the diversity of the shells in
form and colour.
[Illustration: THE GARDEN SNAIL, (_Helix aspersa_,)]
IS furnished with four tentacula, two of which are smaller than the
others; at the end of these tentacula, which the animal pushes out or
draws back, like telescopes, are blackish knobs, which are the eyes.
The snail lays eggs, which are about the size of small peas,
semi-transparent, and of a soft substance. By closely examining with a
magnifying lens the eggs which a Water Snail, kept in a bottle of water,
had deposited against the glass, the young Snail was seen in the egg,
with its embryo shell on its back; two have also been observed in one
egg, each of them with the rudiments of the shell.
The Garden Snail is extremely tenacious of life, and remains in a state
of torpor during the winter. It is said, indeed, that it can remain in
this state for many years, and the following instance is probably
without parallel in any other animal:--Mr. S. Simon, a merchant of
Dublin, whose father, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a lover of
natural history, left him a small collection of fossils and other
curiosities, had, among them, the shells of some Snails. About _fifteen
years_ after his father’s death, he gave to his son, a child of ten
years old, some of these Snail-shells to play with. The boy placed them
in a flower-pot, which he filled with water, and the next day put them
into a basin. Having occasion to use this, Mr. Simon observed that the
animals had come out of their shells. He examined the child respecting
them, and was assured that they were the same which had been in the
cabinet. The boy said he had a few more, and brought them. Mr. S. put
one of these into water, and, in an hour and a half afterwards, observed
that it had put out its horns and body, which it moved but slowly,
probably from weakness. Major Vallancy, Dr. Span, and other gentlemen,
were afterwards present, and saw one of these Snails crawl out; the rest
being dead, probably from their remaining some days in the water.
Similar observations have since been so frequently repeated, that there
is now no doubt that Snails of various kinds may retain their vitality
for years when preserved in a dry state.
THE SMALL GREY SLUG, (_Limax cinereus_,)
RESEMBLES a Snail in all points except that it has no shell,
consequently the brown skin of the back is rougher and stronger than
that of the Snail. Its progress on the ground may easily be traced by
the slime which it leaves in its track. Few animals are more destructive
to vegetation than these.
THE BLACK SLUG, (_Arion ater_,)
IS a well-known inhabitant of our fields and meadows, during the summer
season. The country people consider its appearance as an indication of
approaching rain; but this is rather to be accounted for by the moisture
of the ground and plants. Indeed, it very seldom appears abroad during
dry weather. The Black Slug feeds on the leaves of different kinds of
plants.
[Illustration: THE SEPIA, OR CUTTLE-FISH. (_Sepia officinalis._)]
THE structure of these animals is very remarkable. Their body is nearly
cylindrical, and, in some of the species, entirely covered with a
fleshy sheath; in others the sheath reaches only to the middle of the
body. They have eight arms, or rather legs, and in general two feelers,
much longer than the arms. Both the feelers and arms are furnished with
strong circular cups or suckers. The mouth is hard, strong, and horny,
resembling in texture the beak of the parrot. The body is of a
jelly-like substance, and usually covered with a coarse skin, having the
appearance of leather. This skin contains cells of different colours,
which are capable of changing their relative position, so that the
Cuttle-fish is able to change the colour of its skin. By means of the
numerous circular cups or suckers with which the arms are furnished,
they seize their prey, and firmly attach themselves to the rocks. Their
adhesive power is so great, that it is generally more easy to tear off
the arms than to separate them from the substance to which they are
affixed: if the arms happen to be broken off, they are soon reproduced.
The size to which this creature grows has been variously stated; and,
although evidently exaggerated by some authors, it undoubtedly attains
to a very considerable magnitude. When attacked in its own element, it
has been known to overcome a large dog. Its jaws are extremely strong
and powerful, and with its beak it can crush in pieces the shells of the
fish on which it feeds. In the body is a bladder filled with a dark inky
fluid, which it emits when alarmed, and which not only tinges the water
so as to conceal its retreat, but is so bitter as immediately to drive
off its enemies. This inky fluid, when dried, forms a very valuable
colour, used by artists, and known as Sepia.
The bone, or calcareous plate of the _Sepia Officinalis_, a species
common on our coasts, is a well-known substance, and is much employed in
the manufacture of toothpowder; and by silversmiths for moulds, to cast
their small work, such as rings, &c. It is also converted into that
useful article of stationery, called pounce.
THE POULPE, (_Octopus vulgaris_,)
HAS only eight arms, the two long tentacles of the Sepia being absent.
It is found on our coasts, and is especially abundant in the
Mediterranean, where it is regularly brought to market as an article of
food.
[Illustration: THE ARGONAUT, OE PAPER NAUTILUS,]
IS a kind of Poulpe, in which only six of the arms present the ordinary
form, the other pair being expanded into broad, flat organs. It was
supposed by the ancients, and, indeed, until very recently, that these
expanded arms were used by the animal as sails; it was described as
floating at the surface of the sea, with the back of the shell
downwards, the six arms sticking into the water like so many oars, and
the two broad members elevated to catch the breeze; but it is now known
that the so-called sails are used to embrace the shell when the animal
is swimming backwards, in the same way as its allies, and it also
appears that it is by these arms that the shell is enlarged. The
Argonaut is found in the Mediterranean.
[Illustration: THE NAUTILUS, OR PEARLY NAUTILUS,
(_Nautilus Pompilius_,)]
IS a very different creature, and instead of the eight arms of the
Argonaut has its head surrounded by numerous ringed and sheathed
tentacles. It is remarkable for the structure of its shell, the cavity
of which is divided into numerous chambers by transverse partitions;
these chambers, of which the outermost alone is occupied by the animal,
are filled with air, but a narrow tube passes through the whole of them,
and communicates with the cavity of the body. By this arrangement the
Nautilus is enabled to alter his specific gravity so as either to rise
to the surface or sink to the bottom of the water. The few existing
species of Nautilus are all found in the Indian and South Pacific
Oceans.