FISHES. 115

marshes, and in the woods; where the lands are cleared to any extent, they are seldom troublesome.

During the’ beautiful summer nights, one observes, in different directions, lights flashing and moving about, which are occasioned by fire-flies fluttering their Wings, from under which a vivid sparkling is emitted.

The varieties of shell-fish are oysters, clams, mus- sels, razor shell-fish, Wilkes, lobsters, crabs, shrimps, &c., and equally delicious as those taken on the English shores.

There are two or three varieties of oysters, the largest of which is from six to twelve inches long, and as fine flavoured as thos'ewtaken on the British coasts.

The descriptions of fish that swarm round the shores, or that abound on the different fishing banks on the coasts of British America, are very numerous. The following are those most commonly known :— hump-back whale, and two or three other kinds; porpoise, horse-mackarel, shark, dog-fish, sturgeon, cod, eel, haddock, ling, hake, salmon, herring, alewife, mackarel, bass, shad, pond-perch, sea-perch, sculpion, trout, scale-fish, tom-cod, hallibut, flounder, smelt, caplin, and cuttle-fish, or squid.

The quality of the different varieties of fish may be considered nearly similar to that of the same species caught in the British seas. ' Some, however, think that the cod, spring herring, and haddock, are, when fresh, inferior to those in the English market. The herring caught in spring, at which time they enter the bays to spawn, are certainly not so fat; but those