118 J. E. UTTLEBOY — THE LULBOENE AND GADE, 



Minnows are considered by connoisseurs to be very palatable. 

 The following receipt for cooking them is given by Izaak Walton ; 

 it may possibly interest our lady members : — ' ' Let the fish be gutted 

 and well washed in salt and water, cut off both heads and tails, 

 then fry in good butter, adding to it the yoke of eggs in which the 

 flowers of the cowslip and primrose have been well beaten." When 

 thus cooked they are said to equal or even excel the whitebait. 



The Loach [Cohitis harhatula). — Although not particularly 

 abundant, the loach is a constant frequenter of our streams. It 

 but rarely rises to the surface of the water, and appears to prefer a 

 hiding place by the side or under the shelter of stones. Like 

 many of the Carp family, the body of the loach is invested with 

 a thick mucous secretion, and, in common with the barbel and 

 gudgeon, it possesses a fringe of barbules round its mouth. It is 

 about three inches long, its mouth is small, and it has no teeth. 

 Mr. Yarrell informs us ^' that the loach appears to be particularly 

 restless and sensitive before a coming storm, and that in olden 

 times it was commonly preserved in vessels as a living barometer. 

 I may also state on the authority of the same author that all ground 

 fish — and those furnished with barbules may invariably be classed 

 under this head — possess but a low standard of respiration and a 

 high degree of muscular irritability, and that the restless move- 

 ments of the loach during a thunderstorm must be attributed to its 

 great susceptibility to any change in the electrical conditions of 

 the medium in which it moves. 



The loach, like the minnow, is considered by many to be a 

 dainty. It is occasionally preserved in the same manner as ancho- 

 vies, and has frequently been transported by amateurs to difi-erent 

 parts of Europe. 



The Miller's Thumb {Cottus Gohio). — The river bullhead, or 

 miller's thumb, is a small dark-coloured fisli from three to five 

 inches long. It is an ugly disagreeable-looking creature, its head 

 and mouth being disproportionately large, and the latter thickly 

 set with minute spiny teeth. It prefers to frequent gravelly 

 streams, keeps close to the bottom, and, generally hiding beneath 

 the shelter of stones, is but very rarely observed. 



The head of the fish, says Mr. Yarrell, f "is said to resemble 

 exactly the form of the thumb of a miller, as produced by a 

 peculiar and constant action of the muscles in the exercise of a 

 particular and most important part of his occupation." One 

 shrinks from questioning, even in the smallest degree, the 

 autliority of Mr. Yarrell, but to this anecdote I am inclined to 

 add the remark, " Interesting, if true." 



The Gudgeon [Gobio fluviatilis). — The gudgeon is very abundant 

 both in the Bidborne and the Gade. It is a pretty little fish, three 

 to five inches in length, is furnished with a short barbule at each 

 angle of its mouth, and is of an olive-brown colour, spotted with 

 black. 



* ' Eritish Fishes,' vol. i, p. 377. t lb- vol. i, p. 57. 



