fact is, it is excellent when fresh; but soon changes, and acquires a strong smell of hartshorn, before it becomes putrid. The body is broad and flat, of a brown colour on the back, and white on the belly; the head is not distinct from the body, so that this fish, and all belonging to this genus, are apparently acephalous, or without a head. One species has large thorns interspersed on the back, and from this circumstance is called a Thornback. They are esteemed the best of the kind. The tail of the Skate is long and generally prickly: the eggs are often found on the beach after a storm, in the shape of a square bag, with two horns at each end, as here repre

In this the embryo is contained, and grows till it has acquired strength enough to burst through its prison. The colour of the bag is maroon, and the substance like thin brown parchment or leather. The female begins to drop her eggs singly in the month of May, and continues to exclude them for several months, to the number of two or three hundred. Some naturalists are of opinion, that these fishes are the largest inhabitants of the deep; and that the smallest of them only come near the surface of the water; the biggest remaining flat at the bottom of the sea,

where an unfathomable depth secures them against the wiles of man.

The Kraken mentioned by Pontoppidan, the learned bishop of Bergen, is perhaps one of the kind; but we cannot give much faith to the report, as it is supposed that this enormous bulk, which inhabits the bottom of the seas about the Norway coasts, is three or four miles in breadth; and that when it moves and palpitates on the ooze, it heaves the tide so vehemently, that the fishermen are obliged to steer away as fast as they can, to avoid being upset by the commotion of the water:

"Thus when beneath the shaggy hills and plain
Of Enna, where fair Persephone once
Won Pluto's heart, the vanquish'd giant heaves
His weary sides: disturbed Etna shakes
Her hoary head, and sends the stormy rage
Of burning stones, of cinders, and of flames,
That light afar, by lurid starts, the seas
From fam'd Pachynus to the Libyan shores.
Aroused by the ghastly blaze, the herds
Affrighted leave the cooling shades, and start
On Erix' heathy brow, whilst cities wide

Totter and listen to the dismal roar

Of elements confus'd

"

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The fabulous story of the giant Enceladus seems to be a fit companion for that of the Kraken, although the latter is most seriously delivered by a mitred naturalist, and solemnly reported as true; whereas the former is nothing more than the work of the lively imagination of ancient ets, who, ignorant of the simplest effects of nature, endeavoured to explain thean according to their mythological tenets.

THIS genus is divided into several species. The red Gurnard, the fins and body of which are of a bright red colour, is not unfrequent on the southern shores of England; it is often seen exposed in the fish markets of the maritime towns of Dorset and

Devonshire, as well as in Cornwall. It is a good tasted fish, when properly stuffed and baked. The flavour of the flesh is similar to that of the haddock.

The Lucerna is caught in the Mediterranean sea, and is of a very curious shape; her fins about the gills are so large, and spread so much like a fan on each side, that they appear somewhat like wings. The tail is bifid, and the scales very small. The flesh is esteemed among the Italians, and the Lucerna is often seen in the fish markets of Naples, Venice, and other towns on the seashore. This fish resembles so much the Father-lasher and the Gurnard, that we did not think necessary to give an engraving of it; our principal object being throughout to render the book more interesting than expensive.

The Pogge is a curious fish in appearance and shape; his fins, the pectoral ones particularly, are long, and spread like those of the Lucerna and Gurnard before described.

When any man of sense considers the curious attire, with which this fish and all of the same species are naturally surrounded, how can he withhold his admiration of that unlimited intelligence, who at one word called out all shapes, all forms, and clothed animated matter with them? This astonishing variety puzzles the mind at the same time; as we cannot guess to what end it is directed,-can proud man suppose, that it was for the purpose of pleasing his eyes? No, the ultimate object of Providence is concealed from us; and we remain as ignorant of the tendency and purpose of the creature, as we are of the intermediate links, in the great chain, between it and the Creator.

It would be an inexcusable neglect to pass this fish unnoticed, not on account of its disputing with the haddock the honour of having been pressed by

N

the fingers of the apostle; nor of its having been trodden upon by the gigantic foot of St. Christopher, when he carried on his shoulders a divine burden across an arm of the sea; but for the excellence of its flesh. It has been for some years in such favour with our epicures, that one of them, a comedian of high repute (Quin) took a journey to Plymouth merely to eat John Dorees in perfection. The body of this fish presents the shape of a rhomboid, but the sides are much compressed; the mouth is large, and the snout long, composed of several cartilaginous plates, which wrap and fold one over another, in order to enable the fish to catch its prey. The colour is a dark green, marked with black spots, with a golden gloss, whence the name originated. They inhabit the coasts of England, and particularly Torbay, whence they are sent to the fish market at London.