356 CYPRINID.E. 



Several streams in the township of Burton Wood and 

 Sankey, which flow into the Mersey below Warrington, 

 and others in or near the township of Knowsley, which 

 also form the Alt, produce the Graining in considerable 

 numbers. In its habits and food it resembles the Trout, 

 frequenting both the rapid and still parts of the rivers, 

 but is not known to exist in ponds. It is fished for with 

 artificial flies, like the Dace or Trout ; and Mr. Bainbridgc, 

 an enthusiastic fisherman, in his excellent Fly-fisher's Guide, 

 published at Liverpool, says, " that as they rise freely, 

 they aflford good sport to the angler ; and when in the 

 humour, it is not difficult to fill a pannier with them. 

 They sometimes, though not commonly, exceed half a 

 pound in weight, and are much better eating than the 

 Dace.'' 



The Graining has not, that I am aware, been found in 

 any other locality in this country ; but on showing this 

 fish to M. Agassiz, the Ichthyologist, of Neufchatel, he 

 recognized it immediately as a species inhabiting some of 

 the lakes of Switzerland, a detailed account of which will 

 appear in his promised work on the Fishes of Central Eu- 

 rope. 



The length of the head compared to the whole length of 

 head, body, and tail, is as one to six ; the depth of the 

 body compared to the whole length, as one to five ; the 

 nose is more rounded than in the Dace, the upper line of 

 the head being straighter ; the eye rather larger ; the inferior 

 edge of the preoperculum less angular ; the dorsal line less 

 convex : the dorsal fin commencing exactly half-way between 

 the point of the nose and the end of the fleshy portion of the 

 tail ; the dorsal fin in the Dace arises behind the middle. 

 The first dorsal fin-ray in the Graining is short, the second 

 ray the longest ; the pectoral fins longer in proportion than 



