16 Fishes ?ie'w to the British Fawia, 





of the whiting ; head obtuse ; upper jaw longest, having four 

 barbs, the under jaw one ; teeth in both jaws ; gill membrane 

 2 with seven rays; eye large and 



bright; pectoral and ventral fins 

 rather large for the size of the 

 fish ; a ciliated membrane placed 

 in a chink behind the head ; the dorsal and anal fins reach 

 almost to the tail, which is large and straight; scales deci- 

 duous; colour on the back a bluish green, belly and fins 

 silvery. 



Sp. Ch. Back bluish green, all besides silvery, five barbs. 



a 



It is the mackarel midge of our fishermen, to whom it is 

 well known, though hitherto unnoticed by naturalists. For 

 brevity's sake, I have retained only the name Midge, which 

 is probably descriptive of its minute size ; being the smallest 

 fish I have any knowledge of.* Compared with the min- 

 now, it is minute ; and, placed by the side of the mighty 

 whale, — 



" That sea-beast, which God of all his works 

 Created hugest, that swim the ocean stream ; 

 Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam, 

 The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff 



Deeming some island," 



t ■ • -'^ ■ 



it seems to illustrate the creative energy of that Being in 

 whom all live and move; for these also " are his offspring.'* 



It may, perhaps, be the fish alluded to by Ray {S^/n. Pise, 

 p. 165.), and seems to be one of the many spoken of by the 

 older naturalists under the name of A'pua. From their minute 

 size, and the multitudes in which they sometimes appear, 

 they judged them produced by spontaneous generation from 

 the froth of the sea or the putrefaction of marine sub- 

 stances. 



This species is gregarious and migratory, making its first 

 appearance about the middle of May. Through the summer, 

 and particularly in fine weather, they are in considerable 

 numbers, swimming near the surface, when they are followed 

 by mackarel and pollacks, and other fish, which devour mul- 

 titudes of them. When winter approaches, they disappear ; 

 but it can scarcely be supposed that they go to a great 

 distance. 



* The word midgein means a very small quantity, in common lan- 

 guage, in Cornwall. I find also the word midge used for a gnat in Haw- 

 kins's edition of Walton's Angler j part ii. p. 104. 



