upwards of 9,000,000 of ova have been found in the spawn of a single cod. 1,357,400 have been taken from the belly of a flounder; the mackerel, carp, tench, and a variety of others, are endowed with a fertility but little inferior. Such an astonishing progeny, were it allowed to arrive at maturity, would soon overstock the element allotted them; but their numbers, by the means above-mentioned, are considerably lessened, and thus two important purposes are answered in the economy of nature; by the extraordinary fruitfulness of fishes, amongst a host of foes it preserves the species, and furnishes the rest with an aliment adapted to their nature. * * * * * Fishes are the most voracious animals in nature. Many species prey indiscriminately on everything digestible that comes in their way, and devour not only other species of fishes, but even their own. As a counter-balance to this voracity, they are amazingly prolific. Some bring forth their young alive; others produce eggs. The viviparous blenny brings forth 200 or 300 live fishes at a time. Those which produce eggs are all much more prolific, and seem to proportion their stock to the danger of consumption. Leuwenhoek affirms that the cod spawns above 9,000,000 in a season. The flounder produces above 1,000,000, and the mackerel above 500,000. Scarcely one in a hundred of these eggs, however, is supposed to come to maturity; 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 rest with a sustenance adapted to their nature. * * * * * How long a fish, that seems to have scarce any bounds put to its growth, continues to live, is not ascertained; the date prescribed as the age of man, would not perhaps be sufficient to measure the life of the smallest. In the royal ponds at Marli, in France, there are some fishes that have been preserved tame since the time, it is said, of Francis the First, and which have been individually known to the persons who have succeeded to the charge of them, ever since that period. These have now attained a size much beyond the common bulk of fishes of the same kind; and although there are certain peculiarities distinguishing them from younger fishes, yet they evince no symptoms of that decrepitude and disease, which inevitably accompany a life protracted much beyond the usual space, among quadrupeds. * * * * * When any fish is hog-backed, with a small head, this is a sure sign of that fish being in season, of whatever sort it is. * * * * *