58 



POMERANIAN BREAM. 



and form to the Breamflat, that discrimination is difficult until the throat-teeth are examined. 

 The difference has already been pointed out in my notice of the Common Yellow Bream. 



This species was first observed in this country in 1824, by the Rev. Revett Sheppard, 

 who obtained specimens from the river Trent, near Newark ; it was subsequently found by 

 the Rev. L. Jenyns in the Cam, where it is called the Breamflat. It is much more common 

 on the Continent, breeding in lakes and slow-running rivers ; it is valued simply as affording 

 food for Pike and other voracious fishes. The specific name, blicca, is from the Anglo-Saxon 

 verb blican, "to shine," to which also the name Bleak (Alburmts lucidus), another Cyprinoid, 

 must be referred. The geographical distribution of the White Bream, according to Giinther, 

 is Europe, north of the Alps. 



The fin rays are 



Dorsal 10 — i j . 

 Pectoral 14. 

 Ventral 9 — 10. 

 Anal 22 — 27. 



Hybrids between the White Bream and the Roach have been observed in Holland, 

 Belgium, and Germany. 



:OMERANIAN 



IREAM. 



rriHE fish to which Mr. Yarrell has given the name of the Pomeranian Bream, from the 

 -L country in which it was first discovered by Bloch, viz. Swedish Pomerania, and which has 

 been generally regarded as a species of Abyamis distinct from the Common Yellow and White 

 Breams, is in all probability a hybrid between the Common Yellow Bream (Abramis brama), 

 and the Roach {Lenciscus rutilus). Bloch, who has figured and described this fish in his 

 work, Naturgescliichtc der Fische Dcuischlands, p. 95, gave to it the name of Cyprinus Buggen- 

 hagii, from the name of the gentleman, M. Buggenhagen, from whom he had received 

 specimens. The late Mr. Yarrell received specimens of this fish from the waters at Dagenham 

 Breach, Essex, in the year 1836. Mr. William Thompson, the Natural Historian of Ireland, 

 noticed a specimen of this fish taken from the sluggish river Lagan near Belfast {Nat. Hist. 

 Ircla7id, iv. p. 137). It has also been found in Cambridgeshire, in a tributary of the Colne 

 near Hanworth, Middlesex, and in the Avon. I have had an opportunity of seeing a great 

 number of these so-called Pomeranians which were caught in a net in different parts of 

 the Aqualate Mere, Staffordshire, on the 7th. of May, 1878. Through the kindness of the 

 proprietor. Sir Thomas F. Boughey, Bart., I was invited to be present when parts of this 

 great sheet of water were netted, and allowed to take home with me such specimens as I 

 desired. Siebold {Siisserivasserjischc, p. 134), identifies this fish as the Abnwiis Lenckartii of 

 Heckel, and states that it has been found in the Somme and Moselle by Selys-Longchamps, 

 and in the Dniester by Nordmann ; he certifies that it belongs not only to the basin of the 

 Lower Rhine, but that it is also found in its middle course and its tributaries. Professor 

 von Siebold is strongly of opinion that this fish is a hybrid between the Common Bream 

 and some Leuciscus, although he has promoted it to the rank of a genus by giving it the 

 name Abra7nidopsis Lenckartii. He says at the conclusion of his observations, "I will only 



