BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 71 



aud iniicb depends on the way of cooking them. Thames fish have a 

 decided superiority over most others, and the wives of Thames punts- 

 men and cooks at Thames side hostelries seem to excel in the art of 

 serving up the fish from their river. The secret chiefly lies in cleaning 

 the fish as soon as possible after they are caught, and thoroughly dry- 

 ing them, when split open, in the sun and wind before cooking. Thames 

 gudgeon, when properly cooked, are by no means bad eating, and are 

 fairly entitled to the name of "fresh- water smelt." Thames perch, also, 

 and jack, are certainly eatable; and a Thames trout is undeniably ex- 

 cellent, but he is a rarissima avis. Thames fish are, however, an excep- 

 tion. Those from other rivers are mostly inferior, while it is no exagger- 

 ation to say that fish from stagnant water, or from ponds and lakes 

 which have only a slight stream running through them, can hardly be 

 considered as coming within the category of acceptable food. Even 

 enthusiastic anglers can hardly dare to advocate the culinary merits of 

 fish from the Norfolk Broads. As a rule, the poor will not eat fresh- 

 water fish, even when they can get them for nothing, or when pater- 

 familias brings home a basket of "coarse" fish of his own catching, pre- 

 tends to like them himself, aud his family eat them out of compliment 

 to the catcher. When a pond or river is dragged, the owner, as a rule, 

 can hardly find persons to carry away the carp, tench, and other such 

 fish captured. As an instance of this, E once saw large heaps of fine 

 roach, which had been netted out of the trout water round Wilton, lying 

 on the banks and no one caring to come for them, though a general in- 

 vitation to help themselves had been given to all the country side. 

 There is little or no market for coarse fish in London, except at par- 

 ticular seasons, when the Jews will buy them, following some "tradition 

 of the elders." But this is a poor testimony to their goodness, when we 

 find that barbel is the most favorite fish among the Jews, whereas most 

 Christians would agree that this fish is the most unpalatable one our 

 waters produce. 



It may be said that this popular estimate of fresh-water fish is all 

 prejudice. Perhaps it is, to some slight extent. We know how preju- 

 dice militates against the use of Australian tinned meat. We know 

 that a true Celt will not taste an eel, or a true Englishman a snail or a 

 French edible frog. It would take many years of "raniculture" to 

 make the latter an acceptable article of food. But it is not all preju- 

 dice in the matter of iresh- water fish. With the exception of trout, to 

 which may be added gudgeon and perch from the Thames and some 

 other rivers, and eels, which, like salmon, almost stand apart by them- 

 selves in this question, fresh- water fish have either a muddy or un- 

 pleasant flavor, or are simply tasteless; add to which, the abundance 

 of large and small bones throughout them renders them still more un- 

 acceptable. Again, it might be alleged as a proof of present prejudice, 

 that our forefathers, not only of the lower but the higher classes, ate 

 and appreciated these fish. True, but this was partly because of the 



