382 FISHES. 



like the ling in appearance, but the scales are rougher and 

 the teeth smaller. The burbot rarely exceeds, in our rivers 

 Burbot or at least, a weight of 3 lbs., and its colour is 

 Eel-pout. yellowish, with dark spots and blotches. Its 

 distribution in these islands is confined, singularly enough, 

 to the east side of England, being absent, or apparently 

 so, from both Scotland and Ireland. It is even locally 

 distributed in the limited area mentioned, occurring only 

 in the Ouse, Cam, and Trent, as well as in a few smaller 

 streams in Yorkshire, Staffordshire, and Durham. A fish 

 of somewhat singular habits, it lurks during the greater 

 part of the day among the stones (hence " Eabbit-fish "), 

 feeding chiefly at night on small fishes and insects. It is 

 accounted a great trouble in a trout- or salmon-river, and 

 seems to thrive equally well in river, stream, lake, or pond, 

 evincing a preference for clear deep water, where, accord- 

 ing to Seeley,^ its colour is usually paler. It spawns in 

 the spring. 



In the Fork -beard, we find the ventral fin modified 

 Fork- into a long forked ray. The barbel is present, 

 beard. q^^^ ^j^q ^^[j^ jg extremely smooth. This fish 



rarely exceeds a length of 2 feet, and is of a dark colour, 

 with black margins to the yellow fins. 



In the "Tadpole-fish," as the Lesser Fork-beard is some- 

 times called, the barbel and first dorsal fin are both small. 

 Lesser The fish, which has a strong unpleasant smell. 

 Fork- attains a maximum length of i foot, and is 

 uniformly brown, with purple reflections. Its 

 food consists of small fishes, and it spawns in summer. 



In the northern Torsk, known locally as " Cat-fish," we 



_ observe, amons; other characters, a rounded 



Torsk. . . 



body, thick smooth skin, and one dorsal fin 



only ; in colour, it is of a deep grey, with yellow on the fins. 

 1 Fresh -water Fishes of Europe, p. 85. 



