their old shells, after which they
soon recover, and become so fat as to be delicious food.

"At the season of their descent from the mountains, the natives of the
islands which they inhabit, eagerly wait for them and destroy them in
thousands. On their descent they are only taken for the roe or spawn,
the flesh being then poor and lean: on their return from the sea-side
they are in greatest repute, being then fat and high flavoured.

"The crab-catchers adopt various modes of securing them, but they are
obliged to be very cautious, for when the animals perceive themselves
attacked, they throw themselves on their back, and snap their claws
about, pinching whatever they lay hold of very severely. The
crab-catchers, however, soon learn to seize them by the hind legs, in
such a manner as that the nippers cannot reach them."

"You said, Uncle Thomas, that the fishes watched the descent of the
crabs, that they might feed on the spawn. Do you think that they are
endowed with reasoning powers, as well as the higher classes of animals,
Uncle Thomas?"

"No doubt of it, Frank. Old Isaac Walton, the most amusing author on
angling who ever wrote, tells many curious stories about fishes, of
their coming to be fed at the sound of a bell, and so forth.

"Many fishes exhibit the migratory instinct quite as distinctly as those
animals which I have just told you about. The salmon leaves the sea, and
seeks its way up the rivers, stemming their most rapid currents, and
scaling highest waterfalls with a pertinacity which can only be the
result of an instinct implanted in them by their Creator."

"And the herring, Uncle Thomas; does not it come every year from the
Polar seas to spawn on our shores? I read a very interesting account of
their progress southwards somewhere lately."

"I can tell you where, Frank; I will show it you, and when you have read
it aloud, I will point out one or two mistakes, which it is as well to
clear your mind of. It is in old Pennant's work; here it is; will you
read it to us, John?"

"With pleasure, Uncle Thomas.

"This mighty army begins to put itself in motion in the spring. They
begin to appear off the Shetland Islands in April and May. This is the
first check this army meets in its march southward. There it is divided
into two parts; one wing of those destined to visit the Scottish coast
takes to the east, the other to the western shores of Great Britain, and
fill every bay and creek with their numb