three pounds; is scaly; the belly whitish; back and sides of a dark colour, dappled with a still darker shade; the dorsal fin extending from the tail about two thirds of the way towards the head; has some green on the lower part of the sides, also on the tail fin, and the anal and two ventral fins, a remarkable spot at the beginning of the tail fin, an uncommon pocket beneath the under jaw, opening towards the tail, and two little cartilages depending from the nose. This fish is not much esteemed.

The Bill Fish, although not eatable, is entitled to notice for the singularity of his bill or beak, which is about a foot long, and set with sharp teeth. It is a formidable weapon of attack, with which he drives the other fishes before him, and appears to be the tyrant of the lake. It is no less instructive than amusing, to see the smaller and more defenceless fry, with instinctive precipitation, fleeing in all directions upon the approach of a bill fish, a cat fish, or a pike.

An English naturalist, with whom I have conversed on the subject, is confident, from his own observations, that the bill fish of the lakes, is a species of the European gar fish, notwithstanding some diversity in their descriptions.

The Lamprey, or Lamper Eel, as it is vulgarly pronounced, although valuable when caught in the waters of the sea, is here too flabby and insipid to be eaten.

The Silver Eel is round, and from two to three feet long; the back of a dark colour, tinged with green; the belly white, and the sides of a silvery appearance, whence the naine is derived. It has

gill fins, and a continued fin or membrane along the back and belly, from about the middle of the body to the tail. The skin is taken off before it is cooked, and it is then delicious meat.

There is a lake Herring. Whether it is a variety of the same species with the Dutch herring, or totally distinct, I have not had an opportunity to ascertain*.

The Sun Fish is a small, speckled, common, good pan fish.

Various are the modes of taking fish in the lakes. Many are taken with seins, chiefly in the autumn, when large quantities are pickled and put up in barrels, or dried and preserved for family use; some are caught with hooks, at any season of the year, even when the bays and sounds are covered with ice, and holes are cut in it for the purpose. Others are speared. This is frequently done in the evening, by the light of a lamp or torch affixed to the head of a boat or barge. A favourite manner of fishing in smooth water, is termed trolling. Hooks are so fitted at the end of lines with flies, as to float at some distance from the boat, while it moves along. The fish coming up to the top of the water, takes the hook, and is drawn in by hand. Fishing, in short, unites business and amusement.

* The lake herring is considerably different from ours. It is larger, softer in the meat, not so well flavoured, and not so hard in the scales. These distinctions, however, may have been formed by the different circumstances in which they have been placed; and am the more inclined to think so, because the herring caught below Quebec, partake of the same distinctions but in a less degree. Lake salinon differ from ours in the same way.-R. G.

SKETCH XVI.

AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS, REPTILES, AND INSECTS.

Three Species of the Fresh Water Tortoise-Land Crab-Rattlesnakes, Yellow and Black-Doubleheaded Snakes--Frog--Toad--Tree Toad-Bees.

SEVERAL amphibious animals have been described among the inhabitants of the forest. A few more will be added in this place.

Seals have been known to ascend the St. Lawrence above the rapids. They have been seen among the islands near lake Ontario; but such instances have been rare and not very recent.

There are in Upper Canada three species of the Fresh Water Tortoise, or what is called mud turtle. None of them is the proper land tortoise, they being all of them flatter in the back, and different in other respects. Nor is any of them the sea turtle, from which they differ in many particulars.

The largest of these Canadian Turtles is eaten, and, if well cooked, is an excellent dish. The belly is not entirely enclosed in a shell; but there is a narrow shell, connected at each end with that of the back, and extending across the middle of the under side, with a round shell or plate attached in the centre to this narrow cross bar.

The upper

shell is a hard bony substance, consisting of many regular pieces united by sutures, and overspread with a thin horny scale, through which the seams of the sutures are discernible, giving the back a chequered appearance. The length of this back shell is about a foot, and its breadth eight inches. Its horizontal circumference forms a figure between an ellipsis and a parallelogram. Its colour is a dark brown, tinged with a greenish hue. The under shell and under parts of the body are of a dirty yellow, and the skin of those under parts of the body is wrinkled and deformed with warts. The tail is more than half as long as the back, of the same colour, and covered with a rough scaly coat. The legs are strong, the feet broad, and furnished with claws, larger than those of a cat, although not so sharp. The neck is extended or contracted at pleasure, affording the head considerable scope. The want of proper teeth is supplied by gums of bony ridges, with which the animal bites most grievously. The ordinary weight is from 10 to 15 pounds. Some are much larger.

The middle species, as to size, is most common, and is not eaten. Its under side is wholly covered with a shell; and it draws its head, feet, and tail, when it pleases, between the edges of its two shells.

The third species is the smallest, but has the longest tail in proport on to its body. Its back shell is distinguished by protuberances.

These turtles are all amphibious and oviparous. The eggs are not covered with a shell, like those of

fowls, but with a tough skin. They are as large as bullets, some of them larger, and are deposited in the sand, near the bank of some water.

The Land Crab, seen on the north shore of lake Erie, from Detroit to Fort Erie, has some resemblance to a lizard.

Though Lizards are not numerous here, I have seen and examined several. They did not differ from those of the United States.

The country does not abound in venomous reptiles, except near the west end of lake Erie, the Detroit, and lake Sinclair, where they are said to be

numerous.

There are two species of Rattle-Snakes, vulgarly distinguished by the names of the yellow, or large, and black, or small, rattle-snake. The former is from four to five feet in length, and the middle of the body seven or eight inches in circumference, from whence it tapers both towards the head and tail. The neck is small, and the head flattened; the eyes brilliant, with a red circle round the pupil. The colour of the back is brown, beautifully variegated with yellow and a tinge of red, and lined and barred with black; the belly a sky blue. Annexed to the tail are rattles, as they are termed, consisting of callous, horny articulations, of a brown colour, hollow, and inserted one into another, so loosely as to produce a rattling noise when shaken. It is commonly believed, but I do not know that it is ascertained to be a fact, that an additional joint or rattle grows every year; and that the age of the snake may be thus determined. When approached, or apprehensive of danger, he rattles with his tail,