in natural history, an animal that lives in the waters as the natural place of its abode.

The most general division of fishes is into fresh and salt water ones. Some, however, are of opinion, that all fishes naturally inhabit the salt-waters, and that they have mounted up into rivers only by accident. A few species only swim up into the rivers to deposit their spawn; but by far the greatest number keep in the sea, and would soon expire in fresh water. There are about 400 species of fishes (according to Linnaeus) of which we know something; but the unknown ones are supposed to be many more; and as they are thought to lie in great depths of the sea remote from land, it is probable that many species will remain for ever unknown.

Naturalists observe an exceeding great degree of wisdom in the structure of fishes, and in their conformation to the element in which they are to live. Most of them have the same external form, sharp at either end, and swelling in the middle, by which they are enabled to traverse the fluid in which they reside with greater velocity and ease. This shape is in some measure imitated by men in those vessels which they design to sail with the greatest swiftness; but the progress of the swiftest sailing ship is far inferior to that of fishes. Any of the large fishes overtake a ship in full sail with the greatest ease, play round it as though it did not move at all, and can get before it at pleasure.

The chief instruments of a fish's motion have been supposed to be the fins; which in some are much more numerous than in others. A fish completely fitted for swimming with rapidity, is generally furnished with two pair of fins on the sides, and three single ones, two above, and one below. But it does not always happen that the fish which has the greatest number of fins, is the swiftest swimmer. The shark is thought to be one of the swiftest fishes, and yet it has no fins on its belly; the haddock seems to be more completely fitted for motion, and yet does not move so swiftly. It is even observable, that some fishes which have no fins at all, such as lobsters, dart forward with prodigious rapidity, by means of their tails; and the instrument of progressive motion, in all fishes, is now found to be the tail. The great use of the fins is to keep the body in equilibrium; and if the fins are cut off, the fish can still swing, but will turn upon its sides or its back, without being able to keep itself in an erect posture as before. If the fish desires to turn, a blow from the tail sends it about in an instant; but if the tail strikes both ways, then the motion is progressive.

All fishes are furnished with a slimy, glutinous matter, which defends their bodies from the immediate contact of the surrounding fluid, and which likewise, in all probability, assists their motion through the water. Beneath this, in many kinds, is found a strong covering of scales, which, like a coat of mail, defends it still more powerfully; and, under that, before we come to the muscular parts of the body, lies an oily substance, which also tends to preserve the requisite warmth and vigour.

By many naturalists fishes are considered as of a nature very much inferior to land-animals, whether beasts or birds. Their sense of feeling, it is thought, must be very obscure on account of the scaly coat of mail in which they are wrapped up. The sense of smelling also, it is said, they can have only in a very small degree. All fishes, indeed, have one or more nostrils; and even those that have not the holes perceptible without, yet have the bones within, properly formed for smelling. But as the air is the only medium we know proper for the distribution of odours, it cannot be supposed that these animals which reside constantly in the water can be affected by them. As to tasting, they seem to make very little distinction. The palate of most fishes is hard and bony, and consequently incapable of the powers of relishing different substances; and accordingly these voracious animals have often been observed to swallow the fisherman's plummet instead of the bait. Hearing is generally thought to be totally deficient in fishes, notwithstanding the discoveries of some anatomists who pretend to have found out the bones designed for the organ of hearing in their heads. They have no voice, it is said, to communicate with each other, and consequently have no need of an organ for hearing. Sight seems to be that sense of which they are possessed in the greatest degree; and yet even this seems obscure, if we compare it with that of other animals. The eye, in almost all fishes, is covered with the same transparent skin which covers the rest of the head, and which probably serves to defend it in the water, as they are without eyelids. The globe is more depressed anteriorly, and is furnished behind with a muscle which serves to lengthen or flatten it. it as there is occasion. The crystalline humour, which in quadrupeds is flat, and of the shape of a button-mould, or like a very convex lens, in fishes is quite round, or sometimes oblong like an egg. Hence it is thought that fishes are extremely near-sighted; and that, even in the water, they can perceive objects only at a very small distance. Hence, say they, it is evident how far fishes are below terrestrial animals in their sensations, and consequently in their enjoyments. Even their brain, which is by some supposed to be of a size with every creature's understanding, shews that fishes are very much inferior to birds in this respect.

Others argue differently with regard to the nature of fishes.—With respect to the sense of feeling, say they, it cannot be fairly argued that fishes are deficient, merely because they are covered with scales, as it is possible these scales may be endowed with as great a power of sensation as we can imagine. The sense of feeling is not properly connected with softness in any organ, more than with hardness in it. A similar argument may be used with regard to smelling; for though we do not know how smells can be propagated in water, that is by no means a proof that they are not so. On the contrary, as water is found to be capable of absorbing putrid effluvia from the air*, nothing is more probable than that these putrid effluvia, when mixed with the water, would affect the olfactory organs of fishes, as well as they affect ours when mixed with the air.—With regard to taste, it certainly appears, that fishes are able to distinguish their proper food from what is improper, as well as other animals. Indeed, no voracious animal seems to be endowed with much sensibility in this respect; nor would it probably be consistent with that way of profusely devouring every creature that comes within its reach, without which these kinds of animals could not subsist.

With respect to the hearing of fishes, it is urged, that, when they, kept in a pond may be made to answer at the call of a whistle or the ringing of a bell; and they will even be terrified at any sudden and violent noise, such as thunder, the firing of guns, &c. and shrink to the bottom of the water. Among the ancients, many were of opinion that fishes had the sense of hearing, though they were by no means satisfied about the ways or passages by which they heard. Placentini afterwards discovered some bones in the head of the pike, which had very much the appearance of being organs of hearing, though he could never discover any external passages to them. Klein affirmed, from his own experiments and observations, that all fishes have the organs of hearing; and have also passages from without to these organs, though in many species they are difficult to be seen; and that even the most minute and obscure of these are capable of communicating a tremulous motion to those organs, from sounds issuing from without. This is likewise asserted by M. Geoffroy†, who gives a particular description of the organs of hearing belonging to several species. These organs are a set of little bones extremely hard, and white, like fine porcelain, which are to be found in the heads of all fishes: The external auditory passages are very small; being scarce sufficient to admit a hog's bristle; though with care they may be distinguished in almost all fishes. It can by no means

* See Air, p. 29.

† Dissertation sur l'organe de l'ouie, p. 97, et seq.

be thought that the water is an improper medium of sound; seeing daily experience shows us that sounds may be conveyed not only through water, but through the most solid bodies ‡. It seems indeed very difficult to determine the matter by experiment. Mr Gouan, who kept some gold-fishes in a vase, informs us, that whatever noise he made, he could neither terrify nor disturb them; he halloo'd as loud as he could, putting a piece of paper between his mouth and the water, to prevent the vibrations from affecting the surface, and the fishes still seemed insensible: but when the paper was removed, and the sound had its full effect on the water, the cage was then altered, and the fishes instantly sunk to the bottom. This experiment, however, or others similar to it, cannot prove that the fishes did not hear the sounds before the paper was removed; it only shews that they were not alarmed till a sensible vibration was introduced into the water. The call of a whistle may also be supposed to affect the water in a fish-pond with a vibratory motion; but this certainly must be very obscure; and if fishes can be assembled in this manner when no person is in sight, it amounts to a demonstration that they actually do hear.

The arguments used against the sight of fishes are the weakest of all. Many instances which daily occur, shew that fishes have a very acute sight, not only of objects in the water, but of those in the air. Their jumping out of the water in order to catch flies is an abundant proof of this; and this they will continue to do in a fine summer-evening, even after it is so dark that we cannot distinguish the insects they attempt to catch.

Though fishes are formed for living entirely in the water, yet they cannot subsist without air. On this not live subject Mr Hawksbee made several experiments, which without air, are recorded in the Philosophical Transactions. The fishes he employed were gudgeons; a species that are very lively in the water, and can live a considerable time out of it. Three of them were put into a glass vessel with about three pints of fresh water, which was designed as a standard to compare the others by. Into another glass, to a like quantity of water, were put three more gudgeons, and thus the water filled the glass to the very brim. Upon this he screwed down a brass-plate with a leather below, to prevent any communication between the water and the external air; and, that it might the better resemble a pond frozen over, he suffered as little air as possible to remain on the surface of the water. A third glass had the same quantity of water put into it; which, first by boiling, and then by continuing it a whole night in vacuo, was purged of its air as well as possible; and into this also were put three gudgeons. In about half an hour, the fishes in the water from whence the air had been exhausted, began to discover some signs of uneasiness by a more than ordinary motion in their mouths and gills. Those who had no communication with the external air, would at this time also frequently ascend to the top, and suddenly swim down again; and in this state they continued for a considerable time, without any sensible alteration. About five hours after this observation, the fishes in the exhausted water were not so active as before, upon shaking the glass which contained them. In three hours more, the included fishes... lay all at the bottom of the glass with their bellies upwards; nor could they be made to shake their fins or tail by any motion given to the glass. They had a motion with their mouths, however, which showed that they were not perfectly dead. On uncovering the vessel which contained them, they revived in two or three hours, and were perfectly well next morning; at which time those in the exhausted water were also recovered. The vessel containing these last being put under the receiver of an air-pump, and the air exhausted, they all instantly died. They continued at top while the air remained exhausted, but sunk to the bottom on the admission of the atmosphere.

The use of air to fishes is very difficult to be explained; and indeed their method of obtaining the supply of which they stand constantly in need, is not easily accounted for. The motion of the gills in fishes is certainly analogous to our breathing, and seems to be the operation by which they separate the air from the water. Their manner of breathing is as follows. The fish first takes a quantity of water by the mouth, which is driven to the gills; these close, and keep the water which is swallowed from returning by the mouth; while the bony covering of the gills prevents it from going through them till the animal has drawn the proper quantity of air from it; then the bony covers open, and give it a free passage; by which means also the gills are again opened, and admit a fresh quantity of water. If the fish is prevented from the free play of its gills, it soon falls into convulsions, and dies. But though this is a pretty plausible explanation of the respiration of fishes, it remains a difficulty not easily solved, what is done with this air. There seems to be no receptacle for containing it, except the air-bladder, or swim; which, by the generality of modern philosophers, is defined not to answer any vital purpose, but only to enable the fish to rise or sink at pleasure.

The air-bladder is a bag filled with air, composed sometimes of one, sometimes of two, and sometimes of three divisions, situated towards the back of the fish, and opening into the maw or the gullet. The use of this in raising or depressing the fish, is proved by the following experiment. A carp being put into the air-pump, and the air exhausted, the bladder is said to burst by the expansion of the air contained in it; after which, the fish can no more rise to the top, but ever afterwards crawls at the bottom. The same thing also happens when the air-bladder is pricked or wounded in such a manner as to let the air out; in these cases also the fish continues at the bottom, without a possibility of rising to the top. From this it is inferred, that the use of the air-bladder is, by swelling at the will of the animal, to increase the surface of the fish's body, and thence diminishing its specific gravity, to enable it to rise to the top of the water, and to keep there at pleasure. On the contrary, when the fish wants to descend, it is thought to contract the air-bladder; and being thus rendered specifically heavier, it descends to the bottom.

The ancients were of opinion, that the air-bladder in fishes served for some purposes essentially necessary to life; and Dr Priestley also conjectures, that the raising or depressing the fish is not the only use of these air-bladders, but that they also may serve some other purposes in the economy of fishes. There are many arguments indeed to be used on this side of the question; the most conclusive of which is, that all the cartilaginous kind of fishes want air-bladders, and yet they rise to the top, or sink to the bottom, of the water, without any difficulty; and though most of the eel-kind have air-bladders, yet they cannot raise themselves in the water without great difficulty.

Fishes are remarkable for their longevity. "Most of the disorders incident to mankind (says Bacon) arise from the changes and alterations in the atmosphere; but fishes reside in an element little subject to change: theirs is an uniform existence; their movements are without effort, and their life without labour. Their bones, also, which are united by cartilages, admit of indefinite extension; and the different sizes of animals of the same kind among fishes, is very various. They still keep growing: their bodies, instead of suffering the rigidity of age, which is the cause of the natural decay of land-animals, still continue increasing with fresh supplies; and as the body grows, the conduits of life furnish their stores in greater abundance. How long a fish, that seems to have scarce any bounds put to its growth, continues to live, is not ascertained; perhaps the life of a man would not be sufficient to measure that of the smallest."—There have been two methods fallen upon for determining the age of fishes; the one is by the circles of the scales, the other by the transverse section of the back bone. When a fish's scale is examined by a microscope, it is found to consist of a number of circles one within another, in some measure resembling those which appear on the transverse section of a tree, and is supposed to give the same information. For, as in trees we can tell their age by the number of their circles; so, in fishes, we can tell theirs by the number of circles in every scale, reckoning one ring for every year of the animal's existence.—The age of fishes that want scales may be known by the other method, namely, by separating the joints of the back-bone, and then minutely observing the number of rings which the surface, where it was joined, exhibits.

Fishes are, in general, the most voracious animals in nature. In most of them, the maw is placed next the mouth; and, though possessed of no sensible heat, is endowed with a very surprising faculty of digestion. Its digestive power seems, in some measure, to increase in proportion to the quantity of food with which the fish is supplied. A single pike has been known to devour 100 roaches in three days. Whatever is possessed of life, seems to be the most desirable prey for fishes. Some, that have very small mouths, feed upon worms, and the spawn of other fish; others, whose mouths are larger, seek larger prey; it matters not of what kind, whether of their own species, or any other. Those with the largest mouths pursue almost every thing that hath life; and often meeting each other in fierce opposition, the fish with the largest swallow comes off with the victory, and devours its antagonist.—As a counterbalance to this great voracity, however, fishes are incredibly prolific. Some bring forth their young alive, others produce only eggs: the former are rather cretaceous, the least fruitful; yet even these produce in great abundance. The viviparous blenny, for instance, brings forth 200 or 300 at a time. Those which produce eggs, which they are obliged to leave to chance, either... ther on the bottom where the water is shallow, or floating on the surface where it is deeper, are all much more prolific, and seem to proportion their stock to the danger there is of consumption.—Lewenhoek affirms us, that the cod spawns above nine millions in a season. The flounder commonly produces above one million, and the mackerel above 500,000. Scarce one in 100 of these eggs, however, brings forth an animal; they are devoured by all the lesser fry that frequent the shores, by water-fowl in shallow waters, and by the larger fishes in deep waters. Such a prodigious increase, if permitted to come to maturity, would overstock nature; even the ocean itself would not be able to contain, much less provide for, one half of its inhabitants. But two wise purposes are answered by this amazing increase: it preserves the species in the midst of numberless enemies, and serves to furnish the reek with a sustenance adapted to their nature.

With respect to the generation of many kinds of fishes, the common opinion is, that the female deposits her spawn or eggs, and that the male afterwards ejects his sperm or male semen upon it in the water. The want of the organs of generation in fishes, gives an apparent probability to this; but it is strenuously opposed by Linnaeus. He affirms, that there can be no possibility of impregnating the eggs of any animal out of its body. To confirm this, the general course of nature, not only in birds, quadrupeds, and insects, but even in the vegetable world, has been called in to his assistance, as proving that all impregnation is performed while the egg is in the body of its parent; and he supplies the want of the organs of generation by a very strange process, affirming, that the males eject their semen always some days before the females deposit their ova or spawn; and that the females swallow this, and thus have their eggs impregnated with it. He says, that he has frequently seen, at this time, three or four females gathered about a male, and greedily snatching up into their mouths the semen he ejects. He mentions some of the eels, some perch, and some of the cyprini, in which he had seen this process.

Many opinions have been started in order to account how it happens that fishes are found in pools, and ditches, on high mountains, and elsewhere. But Gmelin observes, that the duck-kind swallow the eggs of fishes; and that some of these eggs go down, and come out of their bodies unhurt, and so are propagated just in the same manner as has been observed of plants.

As to the Division of Fishes, see Zoology, n° 10.

Breeding of Fishes may be turned to great advantage; for, besides furnishing the table, obliging one's friends, and raising money, the land will be thereby greatly improved, so as to yield more this way than by any other employment whatever. See Fish-Pond, infra; and Breeding of Fish.

Feeding of Fishes. When they are fed in large pools or ponds, either malt boiled, or fresh grains, is the best food; thus carps may be raised and fed like capons, and tenches will feed as well. The care of feeding them is best committed to a gardener or the butler, who should be always at hand. When fed in a stew, any sort of grain boiled, especially peas, and malt coarsely ground, are proper food; also the grains after brewing, while fresh and sweet; but one bushel of malt not brewed, will go as far as of grains.

Fish and Fishing, as regulated by law. No fisherman shall use any net or engine for destroying the fry of fishes; and persons using nets for that purpose, or taking salmon or trout out of season, or any fish under certain lengths, are liable to forfeit 20s. and justices of peace, and lords of leets, have power to put the acts in force. See 1 Eliz. c. 17. 3 Jac. I. c. 12. 30 Geo. II. c. 21. &c. No person may cast nets, &c. across rivers to destroy fish, and disturb the passage of vessels, on pain of 5l. stat. 2 Hen. VI. c. 15. None shall fish in any pond or moat, &c. without the owner's licence, on pain of three months imprisonment; 31 Hen. VIII. c. 2. And no person shall take any fish in any river, without the consent of the owner, under the penalty of 10s. for the use of the poor, and treble damage to the party aggrieved, leviable by distress of goods; and for want of distress, the offender is to be committed to the house of correction for a month; also nets, angles, &c. of poachers, may be seized by the owners of rivers, or by any persons by warrant from a justice of peace, &c. 22 & 23 Car. II. c. 25. 4 & 5 W. & M. c. 23. The stat. 4 & 5 Ann. c. 21. was made for the increase and preservation of salmon in rivers in the counties of Southampton and Wilts; requiring that no salmon be taken between the first of August and 12th of November, or under size, &c. And, by 1 Geo. I. c. 18. salmon taken in the rivers Severn, Dee, Wye, Were, Ouse, &c. are to be 18 inches long at least, or the persons catching them shall forfeit 5l. And sea-fish must be of the lengths following; viz. bret and turbot, 16 inches; brill and pearl, 14; codlin, bass, and mullet, 12; sole and plaice, 8; flounders, 7; whiting, 6 inches long, &c. on pain of forfeiting 20s. to the poor, and the fish. Vide the Statute. Persons importing any fish contrary to stat. 1 Geo. I. c. 18. for better preventing fresh fish taken by foreigners from being imported into this kingdom, &c. shall forfeit 10l. to be recovered in the court at Westminster; one moiety to informers, and the other to the poor; and masters of smacks, hoy, boats, &c. in which the fish shall be imported, or brought on shore, forfeit 50l. Also selling the same in England, liable to 20l. penalty; Stat. 9 Geo. II. c. 33.

By the stat. 22 Geo. II. c. 49. contracts for the buying fish (except fresh salmon, or soles brought by land-carriage, oysters, or salt or dried fish) to be sold by retail before the same are brought to market, and exposed to sale, are declared void; and each party contracting shall forfeit 50l. And fishermen not selling their fish within eight days after their arrival on the coast between North Yarmouth and Dover, shall forfeit the cargo, vessel, and tackle, &c. And sea-fish, under the dimensions prohibited by the stat. 1 Geo. I. may be exposed to sale, provided they are taken with a hook, and so not capable of being preserved alive. But see stat. 35 Geo. II. c. 27. made to regulate the sale of fish at the first hand in the fishmarkets in London and Westminster; and to prevent salesmen of fish buying fish to sell again on their own account; and to allow bret, cod, turbot, brill, and pearl, although under the respective dimensions mentioned in 1 Geo. I. c. 18. to be imported and sold; and to punish persons who shall take or sell any spawn, brood, or fry of fish, unsizable fish, or fish out of season, or smelts under the size size of five inches. By this act, every master of a vessel is to give a true account of the several sorts of fish brought alive to the Nore in his vessel; and if, after such arrival, he shall wilfully destroy or throw away any of the said fish, not being unwholesome or unmarketable, &c., he is liable to be committed to the house of correction, and kept to hard labour, for any time not exceeding two months, nor less than one.

And see farther, 2 Geo. III. c. 15, for the better supplying the citizens of London and Westminster with fish, and to reduce the exorbitant price thereof, and to protect and encourage fishermen.

Preserving of Fish for Cabinets. Linnæus's method is, to expose them to the air; and when they acquire such a degree of putrefaction that the skin loses its cohesion to the body of the fish, it may be slid off almost like a glove: the two sides of this skin may then be dried upon paper like a plant, or one of the sides may be filled with plaster of Paris to give the subject a due plumpness.

A fish may be prepared, after it has acquired this degree of putrefaction, by making a longitudinal incision on the belly, and carefully dissecting the fleshy part from the skin, which are but slightly attached to it in consequence of the putrefaction. The skin is then to be filled with cotton and the antiseptic powder as directed for birds; and, lastly, to be sewed up where the incision was made. See Methods of Preserving Birds.

Gilding on Fish. In the posthumous papers of Mr Hooke, a method is described of gilding live craw-fish, carps, &c., without injuring the fish. The cement for this purpose is prepared, by putting some burgundy-pitch into a new earthen pot, and warming the vessel till it receives so much of the pitch as will stick round it; then brewing some finely-powdered amber over the pitch when growing cold, adding a mixture of three pounds of linseed oil and one of oil of turpentine, covering the vessel, and boiling them for an hour over a gentle fire, and grinding the mixture, as it is wanted, with so much pumice-stone in fine powder as will reduce it to the consistence of paint. The fish being wiped dry, the mixture is spread upon it; and the gold-leaf being then laid on, and gently pressed down, the fish may be immediately put into water again, without any danger of the gold coming off, for the matter quickly grows firm in water.

a ship, a plank or piece of timber, fastened to a ship's mast or yard, to strengthen it; which is done by nailing it on with iron spikes, and winding ropes hard about them.

Fishes, in heraldry, are the emblems of silence and watchfulness; and are borne either upright, imbowed, extended, endorsed respecting each other, surmounting one another, fretted, &c.

In blazoning fishes, those borne feeding, should be termed devouring; all fishes borne upright and having fins, should be blazoned kauriant; and those borne traverse the escutcheon, must be termed saliant.

Fish-Ponds, those made for the breeding or feeding of fish.

Fish-ponds are no small improvement of watery and boggy lands, many of which are fit for no other use. In making of a pond, its head should be at the lowest part of the ground, that the trench of the flood-gate or sluice, having a good fall, may not be too long in emptying. The best way of making the head secure, is to drive in two or three rows of stakes above six feet long, at about four feet distance from each other, the whole length of the pond-head, whereof the first row should be rammed at least about four feet deep. If the bottom is flat, the foundation may be laid with quicklime; which flaking, will make it as hard as a stone. Some lay a layer of lime, and another of earth dug out of the pond, among the piles and stakes; and when these are well covered, drive in others as they see occasion, ramming in the earth as before, till the pond-head be of the height designed.

The dam should be made sloping on each side, leaving a watte to carry off the over-abundance of water in times of floods or rains; and as to the depth of the pond, the deepest part need not exceed six feet, rising gradually in shoals towards the sides, for the fish to run themselves, and lay their spawn. Gravelly and sandy bottoms, especially the latter, are best for breeding; and a fat soil with a white fat water, as the washings of hills, commons, streets, flocks, &c., is best for fattening all sorts of fish. For feeding a pond, carp is to be preferred for its goodness, quick growth, and great increase, as breeding five or six times a-year. A pond of an acre, if it be a feeding and not breeding one, will every year feed 200 carps of three years old, 300 of two years old, and 400 of a year old. Carps delight in ponds that have marle or clay bottoms, with plenty of weeds and grass, wherein they feed in the hot months.

Ponds should be drained every three or four years, and the fish sorted. In breeding ones, the smaller ones are to be taken out, to store other ponds with; leaving a good stock of females, at least eight or nine years old, as they never breed before that age. In feeding ponds, it is best to keep them pretty near of a size. See Breeding of Fish.