Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/185

Rh farthest part of the chamber, and on one occasion found it depositing the ova."

We have already (see p. 24) mentioned the Phycis of Aristotle, a Mediterranean species of this Family, as exhibiting a parallelism of instinct to the above, forming a nest of sea-weeds, in which the spawn is deposited, and the young are tended by the parent fishes.

So exclusively are fishes in general inhabitants of the water, that it excites our surprise and admiration to see any species emerging from that element, and voluntarily taking to the earth or to the air. Among the Mammalia, there is one extensive Order, which is aërial, that of the Bats; and one which is exclusively aquatic, that of the Whales and Dolphins; while there are some members of the other Orders, which, in a less degree, emulate the habits of these respectively, as the volant Lemurs, Squirrels, and Petauri, on the one hand, and on the other the aquatic Shrews, the Otters, the Seals, and the Manatees. So among Birds, the terrestrial Ostriches, and allied forms, and the swimming and diving Penguins, are well-known deviations from the characteristic habits of their Class, and representatives of beasts and fishes. Reptiles again exhibit almost as many aquatic as terrestrial types; and not a few are arboreal, if not aërial, such as the Iguanas, the Anoles, the Dragons, the Chameleons, the Tree-snakes, and the Tree-frogs. But among