THE CUTTLE FISH.

Or all animals, the Cuttle Fish possesses qualities the most extraordinary. It is about two feet long, covered with a very thin skin, and its flesh composed of a gelatinous substance, which, however, withinside, is strengthened by a strong bone, of which great use is made by the goldsmiths. It is possessed of eight arms, which it extends,andwhich are probably of service to it in fishing for its prey; while alive, the animal is capable of lengthening or contracting these at pleasure; but when dead, they contract, and lose their rigidity.-They feed upon small fish, which they seize with their arms; and they are bred from eggs, which are laid upon the weeds along the sea shore.

The Cuttle Fish is found along many of the coasts of Europe, but is not easily caught, from a contrivance with which it is furnished by Nature: this is a black substance of the colour of ink, which is contained in a bladder, on the left side of the belly; whenever, therefore, this fish is pursued, and when it finds a difficulty of escaping, it spurts forth a great quantity of this black liquor, by which the waters are totally darkened, and then it escapes by lying close at the bottom. In this manner, the creature find its safety, and men have ample cause for admiration, from the various modes in

which Nature has enabled the different kinds of animals to consult for their preservation.

This liquid has been known from the remotest ages, and has been applied to various uses: when mixed with other matters, it has proved a good die, and it has been applied as ink, for writing and printing. When the animal is

taken, it emits a great deal of this juice, and makes a noise like a hog. In this creature, we find a remarkable instance of conjugal affection; the union of the male and female, when once formed, is during life; and in defence of the female and the young, the male will expose itself with great boldness to considerable danger; if he should be taken, they immediately fly with great terror. But to return to the enormous size at which it is said they arrive in the Indian seas: its body, it is asserted, is sometimes two fathoms, that is twelve feet, across the centre, and the arms stretch out to the amazing length of nine fathoms, or fiftyfour feet. So impressed are the Indian fishermen with the truth of this account, that they never row out in their little boats, without a sharp axe, by which they may cut off any of these arms, which may be cast over the boat, and which would overset it.

THE STURGEON, AND ITS VARIETIES.

THE Sturgeon, with a form as terrible and a body as large as the shark, is yet as harmless a fish as swims in the sea; incapable and unwilling to injure others, it flies from the smallest fishes, and generally falls a victim to its own timidity.

The Sturgeon, in its general form, resembles a fresh-water pike. The nose is long; the mouth is situated beneath, being small, and without jaw-bones or teeth. But, though it is so harmless and ill provided for war, the body is formidable enough to appearance. It is long, pentagonal, and covered with five rows of large bony knobs, one row on the back, and two on each side, and a number of fins to give it greater expedition. Of this fish there are three kinds, the Common Sturgeon, the Caviar Sturgeon, and the Huso or Isinglass fish. The first is the Sturgeon, the flesh of which is sent pickled into all parts of Europe. The second is the fish from the roe of which that noted delicacy called caviar is made; and the third, besides supplying the caviar, furnishes also the valuable commodity of isinglass. They all grow to a very great size; and some of them have been found about eighteen feet long.

There is not a country in Europe but what this fish visits at different seasons; it annually

ascends the largest rivers to spawn, and propagates in an amazing number. The inhabitants along the banks of the Po, the Danube, and the Wolga, make great profit yearly of its incursions up the stream, and have their nets prepared for its reception. The Sturgeon also is brought daily to the markets of Rome and Venice, and they are known to abound in the Mediterranean Yet those fish that keep entirely either in salt or fresh water, are but comparatively small. When the Sturgeon enjoys the vicissitude of fresh and salt water, it is then that it grows to an enormous size, so as almost to rival even the whale in magnitude.

sea.

There are also frequent visits from this much esteemed fish in England. It is often accidentally taken in the rivers there in salmon-nets, particularly in those parts that are not far remote from the sea. The largest we have heard of caught in Great-Britain, was a fish taken in the Eske, a river of Scotland, where they are most frequently found, which weighed four hundred and sixty pounds. An enormous size to those who have only seen our fresh-water fishes!

As the Sturgeon is a harmless fish and no way voracious, it is never caught by a bait in the ordinary manner of fishing, but always in nets. From the description given above of its mouth, it is not to be supposed that the Sturgeon would swallow any hook capable of holding so

large a bulk and so strong a swimmer. In fact, it never attempts to seize any of the finny tribe, but lives by rooting at the bottom of the sea, where it makes insects and sea-plants its whole subsistance. From this quality of floundering at the bottom it has received its name; which in the German, signifies to wallow in the mud. That it lives upon no large animals is obvious to all those who cut it open, where nothing is found in its stomach but a kind of slimy substance, which has induced some to think it lives only upon water and air. From hence there is a German proverb, which is applied to a man extremely temperate, when they say, he is as moderate as a Sturgeon.

As the Sturgeon is so temperate in its appetites, so is it also equally timid in its nature. There would be scarcely any method of taking it, did not its natural desire of propagation, induce it to incur so great a variety of dangers. The smallest fish is alone sufficient to terrify a shoal of Sturgeous; for, being unfurnished with any weapon of defence, they are obliged to trust to their swiftness and their caution for security. -Like all animals that do not make war upon others, Sturgeons live in society among themselves: rather for the purposes of pleasure, than from any power of mutual protection. Gesner even asserts, that they are delighted with sounds of various kinds, and that he has seen them shoal together, at the notes of a trumpet.

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