BARBEL. 369 



ther, so much so that they may be taken up by the hand. 

 The fishermen provide themselves with a net fastened to an 

 iron hoop, having a handle to it, which they place near the 

 fish, and with a pole push it into the net, so perfectly inani- 

 mate are they at this season. Shoals of them also congregate 

 under the Ice of a sunken boat, lying one upon the other, 

 and are often taken by letting a hook down amongst them, 

 and then pulling it up. 



The length of the head is, to the whole length of the 

 fish, as one to five ; the head the same length as the longest 

 of the caudal rays : depth of the body not equal to the length 

 of the head, and compared to the whole length of the fish 

 as one to five and a half. The head elongated, wedge- 

 shaped ; nose produced ; upper jaw much the longest ; under 

 jaw very short ; upper lip fleshy, forming three-fourths of a 

 circle round the under jaw ; opening of the mouth horizontal, 

 admirably adapted to feeding on the ground ; one pair of 

 cirri or barbules at the front of the nose, and a single one at 

 each end of the upper lip, near the angle of the mouth ; 

 nostrils about one-third nearer the eye than the end of the 

 nose : form of the body elongated : dorsal fin commencing 

 half-way between the point of the nose and the end of the 

 fleshy portion of the tail ; the base of the fin shorter than the 

 longest ray, the third ray the longest as well as the strongest, 

 denticulated on its hinder surface ; pectoral fin half as long 

 as the distance between its origin and the origin of the ven- 

 tral fin ; the ventral fin, commencing in a vertical line under 

 the fourth ray of the dorsal fin ; anal fin commencing half- 

 way between the origin of the ventral fin and the end of the 

 fleshy portion of the tail : the base of the fin half as long as 

 the longest ray : the tail deeply forked, the longest rays 

 three times as long as the middle short ones. 



The general colour of the upper part of the head and 

 body is greenish brown, becoming yellowish green on the 



VOL. I. 2 B 



