100 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. — SPARID^. 



t 



but remains adhering to the skin, and is with 

 difficulty separated. 



^ "We can add our testimony 



^,-^__^ to that of Mr. Yarrell, with 

 1 , respect to the excellency of 



this fish, when cooked as he 

 prescribes. 



The Sea-bream,or Gilt-head, 

 as it is likewise called, is taken 

 all around the shores of Eng- 

 land, but is much more com- 

 mon in the British Channel 

 than either on the east or 

 west coast, and to the Scottish 

 fishermen it is scarcely known. 

 In the London market it is by 

 no means uncommon, in the 

 summer and autumn months. 

 During the prevalence of frosty 

 weather it retreats into deep 

 SCALES OF SEA-BREAM, watcr, whcrc, as Mr. Yar- 

 rell informs us, on the au- 

 thority of Mr. Couch, it deposits its spawn at 

 the commencement of winter. The young fry, 

 which go by the name of Chads, are about an 

 inch in length in January ; by the middle of 

 summer they are five or six inches long, and at- 

 tain half their full size, or about nine inches, by 

 the end of their first year. The fry of half a 

 year old congregate in immense numbers around 

 the shores in summer, and are caught by anglers 

 with the utmost ease in harbours and from the 

 rocks, since they bite eagerly at any bait. Their 

 food, both in the young and the adult state, com- 

 prises both animal and vegetable substances : Mr. 



