Note 49 — SUFFOCATION.

Comparative anatomy would furnish us with a variety of beautiful arguments, if it were necessary, to support these views. The bird whose muscular exertion is so great during its flight, is provided with a more than ordinary extent of pulmonary apparatus; and amongst insects we find that many of the coleopterous species disclose avenues of air, in the act of flying, which, in their quiet state, are closed by the cases of their wings, thus procuring for themselves a larger supply of oxygen, at a period when from their exertions they most require it. Flat fish who, having no swimming bladder, remain at the bottom, and possess but little velocity, have gills that are quite concealed, while those who encounter a rude and boisterous stream, as trout, perch, or salmon, have them widely expanded. For further observations upon this subject, the author begs to refer to his paper in the 10th vol. of the Linnean Transactions, entitled “On the Physiology of the Egg,” by J. A. Paris, M. D. &c.