Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/146

132 fish is now taken, even on some parts of our own coast, in every month of the year. It is probable that the Mackerel inhabits almost the whole of the European seas; and the law of Nature, which obliges them and many others to visit the shallower water of the shores at a particular season, appears to be one of those wise and bountiful provisions of the Creator, by which, not only is the species perpetuated with the greatest certainty, but a large portion of the parent animals are thus brought within the reach of man; who but for the action of this law, would be deprived of many of those species most valuable to him as food. For the Mackerel, dispersed over the immense surface of the deep, no effective fishery could be carried on; but, approaching the shore as they do, from all directions, and roving along the coast, collected in immense shoals, myriads are caught, which yet form but a very small portion compared with the millions that escape.

"It may be observed, farther, that, as there is scarcely a month throughout the year, in which the fishes of some one or more species are not brought within the reach of man, by the operation of the imperative law of Nature referred to, a constant succession of wholesome food is thus spread before him, which, in the first instance, costs him but little beyond the exercise of his ingenuity and labour to obtain."

It is said of the Char, a beautiful member of the Salmon family inhabiting our mountain lakes, and the fact is cited by the distinguished zoologist last mentioned, in confirmation of this hypothesis, that when it spawns, it is seen in the