MIGRATION OF FISHES.
Amongst the migrations of fishes, I must not neglect those that take place in consequence of the water in the ponds or pools that they inhabit being dried up: some of these are very extraordinary, and prove that when the Creator gave being to these animals, he foresaw the circumstances in which they would be placed, and mercifully provided them with means of escape from dangers to which they were necessarily exposed.
In very dry summers, the fishes that inhabit the above situations are reduced often to the last extremities, and endeavour to relieve themselves by plunging, first their heads, and afterwards their whole bodies, in the mud to a considerable depth; and so, though many in such seasons perish, some are preserved till a rainy one again supplies them with the element so indispensable to their life. Carp, it is known, may be kept and fed a very long time in nets in a damp cellar, a faculty which fits them for retaining their vitality when they bury themselves at such a depth as to shelter them from the heat.
But others, when reduced to this extremity, desert their native pool, and travel in search of another that is better supplied with water. This has long been known of eels, which wind, by night, through the grass in search of water, when so circumstanced. Dr Hancock, in the Zoological Journal, gives an account of a species of fish called by the Indians the Flat-head Hassar, and belonging to a genus of the family of the Siluridans, which is instructed by its Creator, when the pools in which they commonly reside in very dry seasons lose their water, to take the resolution of marching by land in search of others in which the water is not evaporated. These fish grow to about the length of a foot, and travel in large droves with this view; they move by night, and their motion is said to be like that of the two-footed lizard. A strong serrated arm constitutes the first ray of its pectoral fin. Using this as a kind of foot, it should seem they push themselves forwards by means of their elastic tail, moving nearly as fast as a man will leisurely walk. The strong plates which envelope their body probably facilitate their progress in the same manner as those under the body of serpents, which in some degree perform the office of feet. It is affirmed by the Indians that they are furnished with an internal supply of water sufficient for their journey, which seems confirmed by the circumstance that their bodies when taken out of the water, even if wiped dry with a cloth, become instantly moist again. Mr Campbell, a friend of Dr Hancock’s, resident in Essequibo, once fell in with a drove of these animals, which were so numerous that the Indians filled several baskets with them.
Another migrating fish was found by thousands in the ponds and all the fresh waters of Carolina, by Bosc; and as these pools are subject to be dry in summer, the Creator has furnished this fish, as well as one of the flying ones, by means of a membrane which closes its mouth, with the faculty of living out of water, and of travelling by leaps to discover other pools. Bosc often amused himself with their motions when he had placed them on the ground, and he found that they always direct themselves towards the nearest water, which they could not possibly see, and which they must have discovered by some internal index; during their migrations they furnish food to numerous birds and reptiles. They belong to a genus of abdominal fishes, and are called swampines. It is evident from this statement that these fishes are both fitted by their Creator not only to exist, but also move along out of the water, and are directed by the instinct implanted by Him to seek the nearest pool that contains that element; thus furnishing a strong proof of what are called compensating contrivances; neither of these fishes have legs, yet the one can walk and the other leap without them, by other means with which the Supreme Intelligence has endowed it. I may here observe that the serrated bone, or first ray of the pectoral fin, by the assistance of which the flat-head appears to move, is found in other Siluridans, which leads to a conjecture that those may sometimes also move upon land.
Another fish found by Daldorf in Tranquebar, not only creeps upon the shore, but even climbs the Fan palm in pursuit of certain Crustaceans which form its food. The structure of this fish peculiarly fits it for the exercise of this remarkable instinct. Its body is lubricated with slime, which facilitates its progress over the bark, and amongst its chinks; its gill-covers are armed with numerous spines, by which, used as hands, it appears to suspend itself; turning its tail to the left, and standing as it were on the little spines of its anal fin, it endeavours to push itself upwards by the expansion of its body, closing at the same time its gill-covers, that they may not prevent its progress; then expanding them again, it reaches a higher point: thus, and by bending the spiny rays of its dorsal fins to the right and left, and fixing them in the bark, it continues its journey upwards. The dorsal and anal fins can be folded up and received into a cavity of the body.
How exactly does this structure fit it for this extraordinary instinct! These fins assist it in certain parts of its progress, and when not employed, can be packed up so as not to hinder its progress. The lobes of its gill-covers are so divided and armed as to be employed together, or separately as hands, for the suspension of the animal, till, by fixing its dorsal and anal fins, it prepares itself to take another step: all showing the Supreme Intelligence and Almighty hand that planned and fabricated its structure, causing so many organs, each in its own way, to assist in promoting a common purpose. The Fan palm in which this animal was taken by Daldorf, grew near the pool inhabited by these fishes. He makes no mention, however, of their object in these terrestrial excursions; but Dr Virey observes that it is for the sake of small Crustaceans on which they feed.—Kirby’s Bridgewater Treatise.
“THY KINGDOM COME,”
BY MARY ANNE BROWNE.
Thy kingdom come! but where shall it be?
In the sweet, wild groves of Araby,
Where the citron groves and the date-tree grow,
Where the fair and thornless roses blow,
Where the sunlight falls in radiant streams,
And the moon on forests of palm-trees beams?
Fair are its roses and clustering vine,
And its kingdom is bright!—but it is not Thine.
Thy kingdom come! shall it be in the land
Where the wrecks of the mighty and valiant stand;
Where the temples, once by the heathen trod,
Resound to the holy name of God;
Where the fallen pillars and sculptured stone
Are ’midst sweet wreaths of wild flowers thrown?
It hath a sad grace, that land so fair,
But thy kingdom—thy kingdom is not there!
Thy kingdom come! oh, wilt thou reign
Within some grand and mighty fane?
By the work of our hands we will raise the pile,
We will strew with flowers the vaulted aisle,
We will toss the silver censers around,
And a thousand voices of sweetest sound
Shall breathe at once; but it may not be—
Such a kingdom accepted is not by Thee!
Thy kingdom come! in our cottage homes
We will give thee our hearts, by our kindred’s tombs,
By the rippling streams, in the ancient woods,
Alike in clouds and in solitudes:
When the sun in his glory is beaming on high,
When the moon and stars are lighting the sky,
Our souls shall be breathed in praise and prayer,
So Thou wilt make thy kingdom there!
—From the Knickerbocker.
Love of Children.—Tell me not of the trim, precisely arranged homes where there are no children—“where,” as the good German has it, “the fly-traps always hang straight on the wall:” tell me not of the never-disturbed nights and days—of the tranquil, un-anxious hearts, where children are not! I care not for these things. God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race—to enlarge our hearts, to make us unselfish, and full of kindly sympathies and affections; to give our souls higher aims, and to call out all our faculties to extended enterprise and exertion; to bring round our firesides bright faces and happy smiles, and loving, tender hearts. My soul blesses the Great Father every day, that he has gladdened the earth with little children.
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