A doubtful kind, that may be none, or either,
FARIO, when stopt in middle growth.

In fact, the colours of the trout, and its spots, vary greatly in different waters, and in different seasons; yet each may be reduced to one species. In Llyndivi, a lake in South Wales, are trouts called coch y dail, marked with red and black spots as big as fix-pences; others unspotted, and of a reddish hue, that fometimes weigh near ten pounds, but are bad tafted.

In Lough Neagh, in Ireland, are trouts called there buddaghs, which I was told sometimes weighed thirty pounds; but it was not my fortune to fee any during my stay in the neighbourhood of that vast wa

ter.

Trouts (probably of the same species) are also taken in Hulfe-water, a lake in Cumberland, of a much superior fize to those of Lough Neagh. These are supposed to be the fame with the trout of the lake of Geneva, a fish I have eaten more than once, and think but a very indifferent

one.

In the river Eynion, not far from Machyntleth, in Merionethshire, and in one of the Snowdon lakes, are found a variety of trout, which are naturally deformed, having a strange crookedness near the tail, resembling that of the perch before defcribed. We dwell the less on these mon strous productions, as our friend the Hon. Daines Barrington, has already given an account of them in an ingenious dissertation on some of the Cambrian fish, published in the Philofophical Transactions of the year 1767.

The stomachs of the common trouts are uncommonly thick and muscular. They feed on the shell-fith of lakes and rivers, as well as on small fish. They likewife take into their stomachs gravel, or small stones, to assist in comminuting the testaceous parts of their food. The trouts of certain lakes in Ireland, such as those of the province of Galway, and some others, are remarkable for the great thickness of their stomachs, which, from some flight resemblance to the organs of digestion in birds, have been called gizzards: the Irish name the species that has them, Gillaroo trouts.

These stomachs are sometimes served up to table, under the former appellation. It does not appear to me, that the extraordinary strength of stomach in the Irish fish, should give any fufpicion that it is a diftinct species: the nature of the waters might increase the thickness; or the superior quantity of shell-fith, which may more frequently call for the use of its comminuting powers than those of our trouts, might occasion this difference. I had opportunity of comparing the stomach of a great Gillaroo trout, with a large one from the Uxbridge river. The last, if I recollect, was smaller, and out of season; and its stomach (notwithstanding it was very thick) was much inferior in strength to that of the former: but on the whole, there was not the least specific difference between the two fubjects.

Trouts are most voracious fish, and afford excellent diversion to the angler: the passion for the sport of angling is so great in the neighbourhood of London, that the liberty of fishing in some of the streams in the adjacent counties, is purchased at the rate of ten pounds per an

num.

These fish shift their quarters to spawn, and, like salmon, make up towards the heads of rivers to depofit their roes. The under jaw of the trout is subject, at certain times, to the fame curvature as that of the salmon.

A trout taken in Llynallet, in Denbighshire, which is famous for an excellent kind, measured seventeen inches, its depth three and three quarters, its weight one pound ten ounces: the head thick; the nose rather sharp: the upper jaw a little longer than the lower; both jaws, as well as the head, were of a pale brown, blotched with black: the teeth sharp and strong, disposed in the jaws, roof of the mouth and tongue, as is the cafe with the whole genus, except the gwyniad, which is toothless, and the grayling, which has none on its tongue.

The back was dusky; the fides tinged with a purplish bloom, marked with deep purple spots, mixed with black, above and below the fide line which was strait: the belly white.

The first dorsal fin was spotted; the spurious fin brown, tipped with red; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, of a pale brown; the edges of the anal fin white: the tail very little forked when extended.

§25. The PIKE or JACK. The pike is common in most of the lakes of Europe, but the largest are those taken in Lapland, which, according to Schæffer, are fonetimes eight feet long. They are taken there in great abundance, dried, and exported for fale. The largest fish of this kind which we ever heard of in England, weighed thirty-five pounds.

According to the common saying, these fish were introduced into England in the reign of Henry VIII. in 1537. They were fo rare, that a pike was fold for double the price of a house-lamb in February, and a pickerel for more than a fat capon.

All writers who treat of this species bring instances of its vast voraciousness. We have known one that was choaked by attempting to swallow one of its own species that proved too large a morsel. Yet its jaws are very loofely connected; and have on each fide an additional bone like the jaw of a viper, which renders them capable of greater diftenfion when it fwallows its prey. frogs; it will devour the water rat, and draw down the young ducks as they are swimming about. In a manufcript note which we found, p. 244, of our copy of Plott's Hiftory of Staffordshire, is the following extraordinary fact: "At Lord Gower's " canal at Trentham, a pike feized the " head of a swan as she was feeding under water, and gorged so much of it as kill«ed them both. The servants perceiving

not confine itself to feed on fith

"

"the swan with its head under water for a longer time than usual, took the boat, " and found both swan and pike dead*." But there are instances of its fierceness ftill more surprising, and which indeed border a little on the marvellous. Gefner + relates, that a famished pike in the Rhone

the furface (as is frequently the cafe) the lesser fish are often observed to swim around it in vaft numbers, and in great anxiety. Pike are often haltered in a noose, and taken while they lie thus asleep, as they are often found in the ditches near the Thames, in the month of May.

In the shallow water of the Lincolnshire fens they are frequently taken in a manner peculiar, we believe, to that county, and the ifle of Ceylon. The fishermen make ufe

of what is called a crown-net, which is no more than a hemispherical basket, open at top and bottom. He stands at the end of one of the little fenboats, and frequently

puts his basket down to the bottom of the water, then poking a stick into it, discovers whether he has any booty by the striking of the fish; and vast numbers of pike are taken in this manner.

The longevity of this fish is very remark. able, if we may credit the accounts given it. Rzaczynski tells us of one that was

of in

the year 1497,

a

ninety years old; but Gefner relates, that pike was taken near Hailbrun, in Suabia, with a brazen ring affixed to it, on which were these words in Greek characters: I am the fish which was first of all put into this lake by the bands of the governor of the universe, Frederick the fecond, the 5th of October, 1230: so that the former must have been an infant to this Me

thufalem of a fish.

Pikes spawn in March or April, according to the coldness or warmth of the weather. When they are in high season their colours are very fine, being green, spotted with bright yellow; and the gills are of a most vivid and full red. When out of feafon, the green changes to grey, and the yellow spots turn pale.

The head is very flat; the upper jaw broad, and is shorter than the lower: the

to water, and that the beast drew

out before it could disengage itself. That people have been bit by these voracious creatures while they were washing their legs, and that they will even contend with the otter for its prey, and endeavour to force it out of its mouth.

Small fish shew the fame uneasiness and detestation at the presence of this tyrant, as

is marked with minute punctures.

The teeth are very sharp, disposed only in the front of the upper jaw, but in both fides of the lower, in the roof of the mouth, and often the tongue. The flit of the mouth, or the gape, is very wide; the eyes small. The dorsal fin is placed very low on the back, and consists of twenty-one rays; the

or owl. When the pike lies dormant near

*This notewe afterwards discovered was wrote

by Mr. Plott, of Oxford, who allured me he inferted it on good authority.

+ Gefner pifc. 503.

the anal of eighteen.
The tail is bifurcated..

§26. The CARP.

This is one of the naturalized fish of our country, having been introduced here by Leonard

Leonard Maschal, about the year 1514*, to whom we were alfo indebted for that excellent apple the pepin. The many good things that our island wanted before that period, are enumerated in this old distich :

Turkies, carps, hops, pickerel, and beer,
Came into England all in one year,

As to the two last articles we have fome doubts, the others we believe to be true. Russia wants these fish at this day; Sweden has them only in the ponds of the people of fashion; Polish Pruffia is the chief feat of the carp; they abound in the rivers and lakes of that country, particularly in the Frisch and Curisch-haff, where they are taken of a vast size. They are there a great article of commerce, and fent in well-boats to Sweden and Russia. The merchants purchase them out of the waters of the nobleffe of the country, who draw a good revenue from this article. Neither are there want ing among our gentry, instances of fome who make good profit of their ponds.

The ancients do not feparate the carp from the sea fish. We are credibly informed that they are sometimes found in the harbour of Dantzick, between the town and a small place called Hela.

Carp are very long lived. Gefner brings an instance of one that was an hundred years old. They also grow to a very great fize. On our own knowledge we can speak of none that exceeded twenty pounds in weight; but Jovius says, that they were sometimes taken in the Lacus Larius (the Lago di Como) of two hundred pounds weight; and Rzaczynski mentions others taken in the Dniester that were five feet in length.

They are alfo extremely tenacious of life, and will live for a most remarkable time out of water. An experiment has been made by placing a carp in a net, well wrapped up in wet moss, the mouth only remaining out, and then hung up in a cellar, or fome cool place: the fish is frequently

fed with white bread and milk, and is befides often plunged into water. Carp thus managed have been known, not only to have lived above a fortnight, but to grow exceedingly fat, and far fuperior in taste to those that are immediately killed from the pond †.

The carp arp is a prodigious breeder: its quantity of roe has been fometimes found fo great, that when taken out and weighed against the fish itself, the former has been found to preponderate. From the spawn of this fich caviare is made for the Jews, who hold this sturgeon in abhorrence.

These fish are extremely cunning, and on that account are by fome styled the river fox. They will fometimes leap over the nets, and escape that way; at others, will immerse themselves so deep in the mud, as to let the net pass over them. They are also very fhy of taking a bait; yet at the spawning time they are fo fimple, as to fuffer themselves to be tickled, handled, and caught by any body that will attempt it.

This fish is apt to mix its milt with the roe of other fish, from which is produced a fpurious breed: we have feen the offspring of the carp and tench, which bore the greatest resemblance to the first: have also heard of the fame mixture between the carp and bream.

The carp is of a thick shape: the scales very large, and when in best season of a fine gilded hue.

The jaws are of equal length; there are two teeth in the jaws, or on the tongue; but at the entrance of the gullet, above and below, are certain bones that act on each other, and comminute the food before it passes down.

On each fide of the mouth is a fingle beard; above those on each fide another, but shorter: the dorsal fin extends far towards the tail, which is a little bifurcated; the third ray of the dorsal fin is very strong, and armed with sharp teeth, pointing downwards; the third ray of the anal fin is con structed in the same manner.

be

§27. The BARBEL.

This fish was so extremely coarse, as to overlooked by the ancients till the time of Aufonius, and what he says is no panegyric on it; for he lets us know it loves deep waters, and that when it grows old it was not absolutely bad.

Laxos exerces BARBE natatus, Tu melior pejore ævo, tibi contigit uni Spirantum ex numero non inlaudata senectus.

It frequents the still and deep parts of rivers, and lives in society, rooting like (wine with their noses in the foft banks. It is so tame as to fuffer itself to be taken with the hand; and people have been known to 3S2 take

take numbers by diving for them. In summer they move about during night in search of food, but towards autumn, and during winter, confine themselves to the deepest holes.

They are the worst and coarsest of fresh water fish, and seldom eat but by the poorer fort of people, who sometimes boil them with a bit of ba of bacon to give them a relish. The roe is very noxious, affecting those who unwarily eat of it with a nausea, vomiting, purging, and a flight swelling.

It is fometimes found of the length of three feet, and eighteen pounds in weight: it is of a long and rounded form: the scales not large.

Its head is smooth: the nostrils placed near the eyes: the mouth is placed below: on each corner is a single beard, and another on each side the nofe.

The dorsal fin is armed with a remarkable strong spine, sharply ferrated, with which it can inflict a very fevere wound on the incautious handler, and even do much damage to the nets.

The pectoral fins are of a pale brown colour; the ventral and anal tipped with yellow: the tail a little bifurcated, and of a deep purple: the fide line is strait.

The scales are of a pale gold colour, edged with black: the belly is white.

§ 28. The TENCH.

The tench underwent the same fate with the barbel, in respect to the notice taken of it by the early writers: and even Aufonius, who firit mentions it, treats it with such difrespect, as evinces the great capricioufness of tafte; for that fish, which at present is held in such good repute, was in his days the repast only of the canaille.

Quis non et virides vulgi folatia Tincas
Norit?

It has been by some called the Physician of the fish, and that the slime is so healing, that the wounded apply it as a styptic. The ingenious Mr. Diaper, in his piscatory eclogues, says, that even the voracious pike will spare the tench on account of its healing powers :

The Tench he spares a medicinal kind:
For when by wounds diftreft, or fore disease,
He courts the falutary fish for eafe;
Close to his fcales the kind phyfician glides,
And fweats a healing balfam from his fides.

Ecl. II.

Whatever virtue its flime may have to the inhabitants of the water, we will not

vouch for, but its flesh is a wholesome and delicious food to those of the earth. The Germans are of a different opinion. By way of contempt, they call it Shoemaker. Gefner even says, that it is infipid and unwholesome.

It does not commonly exceed four or five pounds in weight, but we have heard of one that weighed ten pounds; Salvianus speaks of some that arrived at twenty pounds.

They love ftill waters, and are rarely found in rivers: they are very foolish, and easily caught.

The tench is thick and short in proportion to its length: the scales are very small, and covered with flime.

The irides are red: there is sometimes, but not always, a small beard at each corner of the mouth.

The colour of the back is dusky; the dorsal and ventral fins of the same colour: the head, fides, and belly, of a greenith cast, most beautifully mixed with gold, which is in its greatest splendor when the fish is in the highest season.

The tail is quite even at the end, and very broad.

§ 29. The GUDGEON.

Ariftotle mentions the gudgeon in two places; once as a river fith, and again as a species that was gregarious: in a third place he describes it as a fea fish; we must therefore confider the Κωθιος he mentions, lib. ix. c. 2. and lib. viii. c. 19. as the fame with our species.

This fish is generally found in gentle streams, and is of a small fize: those few, however, that are caught in the Kennet, and Cole, are three times the weight of those taken elfsewhere. The largest we ever heard of was taken near Uxbridge, and weighed half a pound.

They bite eagerly, and are assembled by raking the bed of the river; to this spot they immediately crowd in shoals, expecting food from this disturbance.

The shape of the body is thick and round: the irides tinged with red: the gül covers with green and silver: the lower jaw is shorter than the upper: at each corner of the mouth is a single beard: the back olive, spotted with black: the fide line strait; the sides beneath that filvery: the belly white.

The tail is forked; that, as well as the dorsal fin, is spotted with black.

$30. The BREAM.

The bream is an inhabitant of lakes, or the deep parts of still rivers. It is a fish that is very little esteemed, being extremely infipid.

It is extremely deep, and thin in proportion to its length. The back rises very much, and is very sharp at the top. The

head and mouth are small: on some we examined in the spring, were abundance of minute whitish tubercles; an accident which Pliny feems to have observed befals the fish of the Lago Maggiore, and Lago di Como. The scales are very large: the

fides flat and thin.

§31. The CRUCIAN.

This species is common in many of the fish-ponds about London, and other parts of the south of England; but I believe is not a native fish.

It is very deep and thick: the back is much arched: the dorsal fin confifts of nineteen rays; the two first strong and ferrated. The pectoral fins have (each) thirteen rays; the ventral nine; the anal seven or eight: the lateral line parallel with the belly: the tail almost even at the end.

The colour of the fish in general is a deep yellow: the meat is coarse, and little esteemed.

§32. The ROACH.

• Sound as a roach,' is a proverb that appears to be but indifferently founded, that fith being not more distinguished for its vivacity than many others; yet it is used by the French as well as us, who compare people of strong health to their gardon, our roach.

It is a common fish, found in many of our deep ftill rivers, affecting, like the others of this genus, quiet waters. It is gregarious, keeping in large shoals. We have never seen them very large. Old Walton fpeaks of some that weighed two pounds. In a list of fish fold in the London markets, with the greatest weight of each, communicated to us by an intelligent fishmonger, is mention of one whose weight was five pounds.

The roach is deep but thin, and the

back is much elevated, and sharply ridged: the scales large, and fall off very easily. Side line bends much in the middle towards the belly.

§33. The DACE.

This, like the roach, is gregarious, haunts the fame places, is a great breeder, very lively, and during summer is very fond of frolicing near the surface of the water. This fith and the roach are coarfe and infipid meat.

Its head is small: the irides of a pale yellow: the body long and flender: its length feldom above ten inches, though in

the above-mentioned list is an account of one that weighed a pound and an half: the scales finaller than those of the roach.

The back is varied with dusky, with a caft of a yellowish green: the sides and belly filvery: the dorsal fin dusky: the ventral, anal, and caudal fins red, but less so than those of the former: the tail is very much forked,

§ 34. The CHUB.

Salvianus imagines this fish to have been the Squalus of the ancients, and grounds his opinion on a supposed error in a certain paffage in Columella and Varro, where he would substitute the word Squalus instead of fearus: Columella says no more than that the old Romans paid much attention to their stews, and kept even the sea-fish in fresh water, paying as much respect to the mullet and fearus, as those of his days did to the muræna and bafs.

That the scarus was not our chub, is very evident; not only because the chub is entirely an inhabitant of fresh waters, but likewise it seems improbable that the Romans would give themselves any trouble about the worst of river fish, when they neglected the most delicious kinds; all their attention was directed towards those of the sea: the difficulty of procuring them seems to have been the criterion of their value, as is ever the case with effete luxury.

The chub is a very coarse fish, and full of bones: it frequents the deep holes of rivers, and during summer commonly lies on the surface, beneath the shade of some tree or bush. It is a very timid fish, finking to the bottom on the least alarm, even at the paffing of a shadow, but they will soon resume their fituation. It feeds on worms, caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, and other coleopterous infects that happen to fall into the water; and it will even feed on cray-fish. This fish will rife to a fly. 3S 3 This