21* BLEAK. Class IV. 



There are various conjectures about this fpecies, 

 but all terminate in a fuppofition that they are the 

 fry of fome fifh, but few agree to which kind they 

 owe their origin. Some attribute it to the (had, 

 others to the fprat, the fmelt, and the bleak. That 

 they neither belong to the fhad, nor the fprat, is 

 evident from the number of branchioftegous rays, 

 which in thofe are eight, in this only three'. That 

 they are not the young of fmelts is as clear, be- 

 caufe they want the pinna adipofa y or raylefs fin *, 

 and that they are not the offspring of the bleak 

 is extremely probable, fince we never heard of the 

 white bait being found in any other river, not- 

 withstanding the bleak is very common in feveral 

 of the Britijh ftreams : but as the white bait bears a 

 greater fimilarity to this fifh than to any other we 

 have mentioned, we give it a place here as an ap- 

 pendage to the bleak, rather than form a diftinct 

 article of a fifh which it is impofllble to clafs with 

 certainty. 



It is evident that it is of the carp or Cyprinus 

 genus : it has only three branchioftegous rays, and 

 only one dorfal fin ; and in refpect to the form of 

 »■ the body is compreffed like that of the bleak. 



Its ufual length is two inches : the under jaw is 

 the longed : the irides filvery, the pupil black : the 

 dorfal fin is placed nearer to the head than to the 

 tail, and confifts of about fourteen rays : the fide 

 line is ftrait : the tail forked, the tips black. 



The 



