458 SUPPLEMENT ON 



ornament alone, though, by those who have tasted it, their 

 flesh is said to be of an agreeable flavour. 



They possess the organ of hearing in great perfection. The 

 Chinese call them with a whistle to receive their food: thun- 

 der, in general, does them much mischief, and even causes 

 them to perish. 



The name of gudgeon is vulgarly given to a small fish of 

 our rivers which inost ichthyologists have referred to the 

 carps, but which forms the subgenus Gobio in the " Regne 

 Animal." 



The colours of the gudgeons vary much, according to age, 

 nutriment, and the nature of the waters which they inhabit. 

 They are found in the rivers and fresh-water lakes of Europe, 

 but more particularly in France and Germany. They abound 

 in places where the bottom is pure and sandy, and which are 

 not much disturbed. In winter they prefer the residence of 

 lakes, and when spring has arrived they re-ascend into the 

 rivers, where they deposit their spawn upon the stones. 

 Their eggs are very small, and of a bluish colour. They do 

 not get rid of them but by degrees, and they frequently em- 

 ploy nearly a month in this operation. Towards autumn 

 they return into the lakes. 



Among the gudgeons the number of females is five or six 

 times more considerable than that of the males. These fish 

 live on aquatic insects, worms, and the spawn of other fishes. 

 They are very greedy after any carrion which may be thrown 

 into the rivers. They are taken with the net and with the 

 line, and sometimes so abundantly that in certain countries 

 the people give them to their hogs. In some places also 

 they are introduced into ponds, to serve as food for the pikes 

 and trouts. They multiply with great facility, and live in 

 numerous troops; they have great tenacity of life. Their 

 flesh is tender, very good, and easy of digestion ; it is in 



