80 MALACOP. ABDOM. CARP FAMILY. 



more recent authority for its occurrence. These 

 fishes swim in great shoals, and spawn in May, 

 when their scales are rough to the touch. Their 

 habits are active and gay. " Of all my pets," says 

 Mr. Jesse, " in Bushy Park, the Bleak were the 

 most amusing and playful. Their activity could 

 not be exceeded ; and it gave me much pleasure to 

 see them, on a summers evening, dart at every 

 little fly that settled on the water near them ; ap- 

 pearing always restless, and yet always happy." 

 This always^ however, must be taken with some 

 limitation. " These fish," as remarked by Mr. Pen- 

 nant, " seem at certain seasons to be in great ago- 

 nies; they tumble about near the surface of the 

 water, and are incapable of swimming far from the 

 place, but in about two hours they recover and dis- 

 appear." The fish, when thus affected, the Thames 

 fishermen call Mad-bleaks ; and it is conjectured 

 that they are then peculiarly annoyed by some 

 parasitic animal. Aristotle alludes to a disease of 

 fishes of this description; but, according to him, 

 they rise to the surface and die. 



Artificial Pearls, being made from a pigment, 

 either the rete mucosum or the tubercular exuda- 

 tion, procured from this and other allied fish, we 

 shall here allude to the circumstance. On the innef 

 cutaneous surface of the Bleak, Roach, Dace^ 

 White-bait, and similar fishes, is found a silvery 

 pigment, producing the lustre which their scales 

 possess. The ornaments manufactured from it bore 

 the name of patent pearls, and their use was uni- 



