In contemplating the vast extent of the metropolis, the candid observer, in justly appreciating the various degrees of comparison that must unavoidably attach to such a phalanx of human beings, some little strength of mind is necessary not to be hurried away by the fascinating glare on the one part of the inhabitants by their riches, grandeur, and exemplary conduct in society; nor prejudiced too strongly against the other, from the lamentable catalogue of human depravity exhibited in London; more especially, when it is recollected, that it is not only the grand depôt of England, but a general receptacle from almost every other country, independent of the vast accumulation from all parts of the British nation, of the idle, depraved, and dishonest-the very centre of temptation, and resources for destructive pleasures, gambling, depredation, and fraud, as well as being distinguished for its honest industry, far exceeding every other situation; its numerous amusements, the mirror of fashion, extravagance, dissipation, and folly, opening an unbounded field for the exercise of the talents of the patriot, the virtues of the philanthropist, and the moral and pious duties of the religionist; operating by their powerful examples in extending the love of country, improving its prosperity, and establishing its fame on the sound and unalterable basis of principle, morality, and good order. To particularize every thing remarkable in this great metropolis would greatly exceed the limits of our work; we shall therefore confine ourselves to the principal only, and refer the reader to our " Picture of the World," a work now in the press, and which will be shortly published. Among the most distinguished buildings are the following. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON AND THE into four ORDERS, the distinctive character of which is The following are the Linnæan orders, and as the specimens referred to, as exhibiting the distinctions of each, are of common occurrence in our markets, almost every fishmonger's shop at this period affords the young student an opportunity of verifying the characters from actual observation. feet. Fishes without ventral fins; as the common and 1. APODES; from two Greek words, signifying without the conger eel. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, which may be called the chief ornament of London, is one of the most august pieces of architecture in the world. The original Cathedral is supposed to have been founded by King Ethelbert, in the year 610, which, in succeeding reigns, sustained many accidents and alterations, and was finally destroyed by the great fire in London, in 1666. The first stone of the present Cathedral was laid in 1675, by that celebrated architect, SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN, after whose plan the whole structure was finished in 1710, and cost upwards of 736,000%., exclusive of the iron balustrades, which cost 11,2021. The TOWER affords several very entertaining amusements, as the Armoury, in which arms for 200,000 men are placed in beautiful disposition, and kept in excellent order; the Crown Jewels, the Records, &c. The Tower was formerly a royal palace, but is now the chief fortress of the city. It is supposed to have been founded by William the Conqueror, about the year 1076. In the Tower are deposited the remains of the Spanish Invincible Armada. WESTMINSTER ABBEY is said to have been founded about the year 610, by SEBERT, king of the East Saxons, on 3. THORACCI; from the Latin, thorax, the chest. the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, which is said to have Fishes, with the ventral fins placed under the pectoral or been thrown down by an earthquake. The king dedicated nearly so, and as it were on the chest or cavity of the his new church to St. Peter. The interior architecture of stomach; as the perch, the miller's thumb, and the John this church is considered among the finest in the world. Dory. The ludicrous name of this last fish is probably The ceremony of crowning the kings and queens of Eng- from the French, jaune dorée-golden-yellow. The most land is performed here. That which next merits our of the sea-fish brought to our markets are of this order. notice is ST. JAMES'S PALACE, the external appearance of 4. ABDOMINALES; from the Latin, abdomen, the lower which is far from being handsome. It is built with brick, and though there is nothing very superb or grand in the decorations or furniture of the state apartments, they are commodious and elegant. The sole use of this Palace is for the purposes of state. (To be continued.) 2. JUGULARES; from the Latin, jugulum, the throat. Fishes with the ventral fins, placed before the pectoral, and as it were on the throat; as the cod, the haddock, and the whiting. None of our river and fresh-water fish belong to this order. belly. Fishes, whose ventral fins are placed behind the pectoral, on the lower part of the belly, a little before the vent; as the herring, the pike, the roach, and the salmon. The greater number of our river and fresh-water fish belong to this order. Each of these primary orders is again subdivided into genera or tribes; each tribe into species or families, and each family into sections or varieties, the characteristic or distinguishing marks becoming more limited, as we de- called the gill-flap, has from four to ten rays. The rays, scend, and more minutely descriptive of the individual. or spines, which serve to keep the fins extended like the The GENUS SALMO, or salmon tribe-an account of ribs of a fan, are fourteen in the pectoral, and thirteen în two of the principal species of which is more especially the anal fins. In the others they need not be noticed, as the subject of this paper-belongs, as has been observed they are sometimes found to vary, and are not considered above, to the order of Abdominales. The generic charac-as characteristic of the species. The colour of the salmon ter, or distinguishing mark of the tribe, consists in having is, on the back, of a bluish black, becoming gradually eight fins, two of which are on the back; that above the softened on the sides to a bright leaden colour, and a siltail, usually called the mort or dead fin, fleshy, and with- very gray. The belly is of a delicate white, and the sides out spines. Of the others, the pectoral and ventral fins are marked with spots of brown-black. In the spawning are in pairs; the anal and caudal single. The following season, the males are provided with a sort of bony hook, are the principal species which are found in the lakes and or gib, as it is mostly called, growing upwards from the rivers of Great Britain: extremity of the lower jaw. In some salmon this gib has 1. Salmo Salar. been observed so large as to have penetrated the upper jaw, and occasioned the death of the fish. Though the salmon, in ascending rivers, will rise at an artificial fly, no description of food has ever been observed in the stomach, except when caught near the mouth of rivers, when it is sometimes found gorged with sand-eels. The Salmon Proper. Salmulus. The Samlet, Brandling or Par. 2. Eriox. The Grey or Sheevin, 3. Hucho. The Bull-trout. 4. Tratta. The Salmon-trout. 5. Fario. The Common-trout. 6. 7. Albus. 8. Alpinus. 9. Thymllus. The Grayling. 10. 11. 12. The Whitling. The Char. Albula. The Invangis. Eperlanus. The Sperling or Smelt. In the evidence given before the committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1824 and 1825, to inquire into the state of the salmon fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland; it is surprising to observe the difference of opinion amongst persons professing to derive their knowledge from observation and experience. Sir George Mackenzie, and Of the above, the Guinaid and the Invangis, are mostly the greater number of those who were examined on this found in lakes in elevated situations among the hills of point, believe, that salmon, impelled by a peculiar instinct, Wales and Scotland; and the char is considered peculiar always return to the river in which they were spawned; to the lakes of Windermere, Conistone, and Buttermere, and their opinions are corroborated by the fact of two adin the counties of Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Cum-jacent rivers, or even two branches of a large one, having berland. The Grey or Sheevin is chiefly confined to the invariably maintained salmon of two distinct varieties, northern rivers of Scotland; and the grayling, which is differing from each other in colour, form, weight, and gerather a scarce species, is not met with north of York-neral appearance. This is again contradicted by the Rev. shire. The bull-trout, which is not easily distinguished Dr. Fleming, who appears rather more confident in making from the salmon-trout, is mostly taken in the Coquet in assertions, than able in alleging facts to support them. Northumberland, and in the rivers on the eastern coast of One practical fisherman states, that at whatever period of Scotland; and the whitling is most common in the rivers the year salmon ascend a river, they never returned to the that run into the Solway Frith, which, on the western sea until they have spawned; and another, with the same border, separates Cumberland from Dumfrieshire. The means of observation, gives evidence directly the contrary. Smelt is perhaps more abundant in the Humber than in One professes to consider angling as one great cause of any other river in Britain. the decrease of salmon, and another declares it to be of too little consequence to deserve notice. Sir Humphrey Davy, who professed to have great knowledge on the subject of salmon fishing, sent a paper to the committee, advising the prohibition of stake-nets, as being particularly injurious to the breed of salmon; and direct, and positive evidence is given in the succeeding session, that salmon full of spawn and the young fry-the two descriptions which are especially the objects of preservation-are never taken in such nets, while Mr. Moir, a practical fisherman, considers that the late President of the Royal Society knew nothing about the matter, and that he had not even seen a stake-net. The Salmo Salar, or Salmon Proper, is one of the most delicate fish for the table that is taken in our rivers, and decidedly the most valuable as an article of food, and the most important as a subject of commerce. Until they have attained the weight of seven pounds, which is not before their second year, they are in the northern parts of Great Britain, termed gilses or grilses, and botchers on the Severn and the Wye. The greater number of salmon 'caught, are from twenty-eight to thirty-eight inches long; from fourteen to twenty inches in girth, where broadest, and weighing from nine to twenty-two pounds. Salmon have been caught from fifty to sixty pounds, but such are of unusual occurrrence; and one of the largest that the writer Perhaps, the most remarkable part of the evidence, as ever saw was caught in the Tyne, and weighed forty-eight coming from a man of science, is that of the Rev. Di. pounds. Such as are upwards of twenty-two pounds, do Fleming, where he informs the committee that the salmon not amount to one-sixth of the average number caught. is a sea-fish, and where to give a colour to his asserThe head of the salmon is smooth and compressed, with tion he gives his own definition of a river, according to the extremity of the upper jaw slightly projecting over the which it is incorrect to speak of the river Thames at under. The mouth is large compared with the size of the London, the river Tweed at Berwick, or the river Tyne head, and the teeth are placed both in the jaws and on the at Newcastle. When the Rev. Dr's. definition of a river tongue. The back is very slightly curved, and the lateral is generally received, his account of the salmon being line, which may be observed in most fish running from the a sea-fish may be admitted as correct; but it surely upper part of the opening of the gills to the tail, is straight. would have been more desirable to lovers of natural The opercula, or horney coverings of the gills, consist of history, and more befitting the spirit of philosophic inquiry, three lamina or plates, and the membrane attached to had he produced, facts tending to show the period that their outer extremity, and which is in common language salmon continues in the sea, instead of attempting to sup port his paradoxical assertion by a verbal quibble. Granting the salmon to be a sea-fish, on the ground of its passing at least six months of the year there, yet not even the shadow of a proof is adduced in support of this opinion; but on the contrary, the admissions of Dr. Fleming himself clearly show that this sea-fish, which is bred in our rivers, also lives there upwards of six months out of the twelve. He admits that two or three months may elapse before the kelts, or fish that have spawned, return to the sea again; and that salmon appear to require a residence of a few months in a river previous to spawning. How many months the Dr. intended to express by a few we must guess; and thus taking it to mean three, and the medium time of the kelts returning, at two months and a half, we have five months and a half for the period of the salmon's residence in a river, in a comparatively foul state and when unfit for food; and if we only allow six weeks for the continuance of the clean and wholesome fish, which are taken in the greatest abundance in May, June, and July, and which are frequently caught in considerable numbers in March and April-we have thus seven months out of twelve, at the lowest estimate, for the residence of this sea-fish in our rivers. the shores, gradually descending the river during the month of April, at which time they are called smouts, and are from three to three and a half inches long, and by the first floods in May, they are generally carried out to sea, which is about the time that the female salmon, which have spawned, wholly disappear, the males generally preceding them by a fortnight. Towards the latter end of June, a few of the young salmon again return to the rivers, increasing in number and size during July and August, when they are taken in greatest quantities, weighing from three to six pounds. They are now termed gilses, grilses, or botchars; and it appears to be ascertained by observation and experiment, that salmon in the grilse state are capable of breeding; a fact which has caused many persons to consider the latter as a distinct species, grounding their conclusions on a comparison with land animals which mostly arrive at their full growth, or nearly, before they begin to breed, With respect to the age at which fish arrive at their full growth, we have still much to learn, and time, as well as observation, is required for the solution of the question. fish that have lately spawned, and sometimes those organs are almost wholly destroyed by them. They are also occasionally found in the gills of salmon that have lately left the sea. Though the Salmon sold in London are mostly said to be from Newcastle, there are, in fact, none sent from that port; the principal supply being derived from Scotland, where the chief places of shipment are Berwick, Perth, Montrose, and Aberdeen. They are sent in boxes and packed in ice, which is afterwards sold to the confectioners. The Salmon was known to the Greeks and Romans, and appears to have been as much prized by the epicures of antiquity, as it is by those of the present day. It was formerly so plentiful in some parts of England, that farmservants and apprentices used to stipulate with their masters, that they should not have salmon for dinner more than twice a week. Within these last twenty years, the breed of salmon is said to have considerably decreased in this island, even in rivers where the drains of manufactures, and water from lead and coal mines do not exist, as a probable cause of their diminution. Salmon on first arriving from the sea are frequently found infested by insects, called by fishermen sea-lice, About September, Salmon begin to ascend towards the which adhere to their sides, but fall off after the fish have heads of rivers for the purpose of depositing their spawn, been a short time in the fresh water. An insect resembling and continue pressing forward during October and No-a maggot is also often found in the gills of kelts, or sick vember, availing themselves of the gushes or floods to spring over falls and ledges of rock, which in a low state of the water they are unable to surmount. When above the tide-way salmon mostly swim in the middle of the stream, keeping near to the bottom and seldom approaching the shore; and the manner in which they make their way against the strongest currents, and spring over rocks, dams, and weirs, several feet high, is truly surprising, and can scarcely fail to excite the admiration of every reflecting mind at the wisdom of Providence, in adapting the means to the end. Having advanced so far up that sometimes there is scarcely water sufficient to cover them, the male and female proceed to form a trench or furrow in the gravel for the reception of the spawn, hollowing it out with their snouts and shoulders to the length of eight or ten feet, constantly working against the stream. Should the male happen to be taken at this season, the female seeks another mate; and poachers who are aware of this fact, when they have discovered a pair at work, are said to spare the female, that she may seek another mate, and thus bring them another prey As the ova of the female which are at the time of spawning in December and January, about the size of a pea, are excluded singly, and amount to about 17,000; their exclusion occupies several days. When they are discharged they are carefully covered up with gravel, in order to protect them from the fish and water birds by which they are destroyed. Although Salmon are generally considered as spawning in December and January, yet a considerable number of unspawned fish are found in February, and some so late as the middle of March; but whether such fish discharge their spawn that season or not, is uncertain. For a month or six weeks after spawning, salmon are weak and sickly, sometimes scarcely capable of action, and almost carried as the current drives. Their flesh is at this period hard and unpleasant when dressed, and their lean and flaccid appearance sufficiently indicates their unfitness as food, From the 1st to the 15th of March, the young fry become quickened, and ascend to the surface, sometimes with a part of the pea, as the ovum or egg is mostly called by fishermen, still adhering to them. At first they keep near The Salmo Fario, or common trout, is found in most streams frequented by the salmon, as well as in many which the latter never ascend. The number and position of their fins are the same as in the salmon, though mostly, with two spines less in the pectoral and anal fins; and the lower-jaw is a little larger than the upper. This is the most beautiful fish of all that are found in our rivers and lakes; and its colours, when first caught, display that changing variety when viewed in different lights, which is said to have been so much admired by the Romans in the dying mullet. The head is blotched with olive and dark green, with sometimes a shade of purple. The back is of an olive-brown, approaching to yellow towards the belly, which is of a silvery-white. The sides are beautifully variegated with red and yellowish-brown spots; and the fins of the belly are tinged with red, sometimes inclining to an orange colour. They are mostly caught from nine to twenty inches in length, and weighing from eight ounces to four pounds, though genuine burn trouts of the latter weight are not very common, and those of from five to six pounds are still more unusual. The principal difference in the order of creation the highest, by intellect connected with the between the common and the salmon trout is in the colour, spirit, that moved in chaos and which made the light, infusing into the latter bearing a stronger resemblance to the chief of man its powers, the light of reason, and so he became a living soul, the tribe, being thus very liable to be confounded with the inheriting a portion of the immortal and eternal spirit; in his form grilse. and structure wonderful, and surpassing all other mortal beings; The trout spawns in the upper parts of streams similarly by instinct, social; by sympathy, sentimental; endowed with to the salmon, and nearly about the same time, though speech, and most perfect in organization; his position, upright; perhaps a little earlier; and a female salmón that has lost her mate has been known to select a trout to aid her in the completion of her work. The fry of the trout, the grilse, and the salmon are not to be distinguished on their first appearance. his joints and limbs, flexible; and his port and motions majestic, suitable to the character of the Lord of the CREATION; at his presence all other creatures stand in awe, and by him are subdued ; his external senses are fitted for corporeal comfort and pleasure; The trout is a voracious fish, living on flies, worms, his ear receives the sound of melody: his eye reflects the beauties frogs, minnows, young perch, and other small fish, and of nature; his nostrils admit the sweetest scents; his palate relishes is particularly destructive to the spawn of salmon, should the delicious fruits of the earth; and his feeling is exquisite beyond the gravel under which it is deposited happen to be re-the language of description. Is he not favoured above all other moved by heavy floods. This voracity exposes him in creatures? Though man is not so swift as the horse, nor so strong turn to become the prey of the angler; and statesmen, as the ox, yet he commands them both, and uses them for his purpoets, philosophers, and divines, have forgot the cares and poses and benefit. Even the huge elephant kneels and submits to vanities of the world in fly-fishing for trout. This is not the the burden which man places on his back. The elements also place for entering into any argument as to the immorality of yield to his ingenuity, and are made to contribute to his conveni this practice. Men, when speaking on such subjects are aptence; in his person, he is most judiciously formed for all the offices to be influenced merely by feeling, and to condemn as of life, the organs of sense being so placed as to scrutinize every immoral what they merely dislike. It may, however, be observed, that many, of blameless integrity, and almost apostolical simplicity, have been partial to fly-fishing, while others, certainly not of the most amiable character, have been loud in its condemnation....、 The wood-cut at the head of this article affords a correct and admirable representation of a salmon weighing about sixteen pounds, and of a common trout weighing about three and a half pounds, thing that enters into his mouth for sustenance; the sight, the smell, The con NEXT to our convictions and acknowledgment of a Detry, the most sublime employment of our understanding seems to be an inquiry into the structure of the UNIVERSE; and the form, quali-struction and use of this member of the body are, however, subjects ties, and purposes of its component parts. With respect to the of more importance than any scientific speculations upon its mo etymon of the term UNIVERSE, a learned linguist defines it to be tions; by it we behold not only one object at a time, but a cona whole, “sine aliqua exceptione;""* to this extent, we cannot pre- that without confusion or intermixture; different colours and difgregation of things, a whole landscape, a variety of objects, and tend to go; the utmost stretch of human ingenuity never can reach ferent shades appear, each in its natural qualities, form, and to all God's Works, or explain all the phenomena of the CREATION; acts or dilates to admit more or less expansion of vision, and of fashion. The iris, which circumvolves the aperture of sight, conwe must content ourselves with what we can investigate, and the rays of light that are needed without injury to the delicate textolerably comprehend, of that part of the UNIVERSE, which in- ture of the retina, a thin membrane, like a net, that covers the cludes our SOLAR SYSTEM; in particular, that which relates to the orifice forming the pupil of the eye; and through the perforations Globe on which we live; our own species, as rational animals, of which substances are reflected with pictorial faithfulness. The naturally comes foremost in this train of thinking; and then the oculist, in the dissection of this wonderful organ, may well find Elements of Matter, with their uses and effects; not entering into het and pleasure. Let us next attempt a complete analysis of the cause for amazement, and every human being by its use, gratitude abstruse science of chemistry, but following that course which human MIND. renders plain and manifest the causes and effects visible to common observation. After this, follow in their courses some disquisitions on the Planetary System; and, lastly, on the occurrences and events of the Earth, and things of terrestrial production; and first, WHAT IS MAN? He has been aptly called a Microcosm, or World in` Miniature, because of his containing in nature and knowledge an abridgment of what the volume of Nature displays: in his class he is a mamiliary biped, of appetite compound, carnivorous, granivorous, &c.; Without omitting any thing-LYTTLETON. (To be continued.) "For those who have them raised high are proud and fierce, but those that have them low, or half down, the eyes nearly shut, as seems ing to look on the earth, are meek and humble."-PLACENTINUS, In consequence of an unforeseen circumstance, the promised Maps of London could not be produced in time for the present number, but will be given to the Public as early as possible. LONDON: Published for the Proprietors, at 51, Paternoster-row... |