SHEAT-FISHES. 227 



Small fishes, as trout, roach, salmon-fry, a 

 young herring, or the hind part of an eel, are 

 excellent bait for Pike ; and for large ones a 

 young one of their own species. But a bright- 

 coloured small bird, a goldfinch or yellow-ham- 

 mer, will frequently kill, when they will not look 

 at trout or roach. The best time for catching 

 them is the morning ; if hazy, with little wind, so 

 much the better.* 



Family III. Silurid.e. 



{^Slieat-fishes). 



An extensive assemblage of uncouth and re- 

 pulsive fishes is found composing this Family. 

 They are entirely destitute of scales, instead of 

 which some genera have an armature of large 

 angular bony plates, others have only a naked 

 skin, invested with a thick coat of slimy mucus. 

 In general the head is very broad and flat, with a 

 great cat-like face; the lips send forth beards 

 {cirri) or fleshy tentacles, sometimes of great 

 length. The mouth is small, sometimes furnished 

 with close-set velvet-like teeth, but often quite 

 toothless. In the great majority of the species 

 the first ray of the dorsal, and of the pectorals, 

 takes the form of a stout and strong articulated 

 spine, the edges of which are often cut into sharp 

 teeth pointing backward ; these spines -are formi- 

 dable weapons of offence. 



Four hundred species are reckoned as belong- 

 ing to this Family, all of which are inhabitants of 

 fresh waters. They abound in the great slow- 

 * O'Gorman, i. 318. 



