368 CYPRINID.E. 



ABDOMINAL 



MALACOPTERYGIl. CYPRIMD/E. 



THE BLEAK. BLICK, Merrett. 



Leuciscus alburnus, Cuvier, Regne An. t. ii. p. 276. 



Bleak, Flem. Brit. An. p. 188, sp. 67. 

 Cyprinus ,, Linnaeus. Bloch, pt. i. pi. 8, f. 4. 



Bleak, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 487, pi. 84. 

 „ „ ,, Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 18. 



The Bleak is a well-known small species inhabiting 

 many of the rivers of Europe, and is found in this country 

 in most, if not all, those which produce the Roach and the 

 Dace. The Thames, the Lea, and the New River produce 

 the Bleak in considerable numbers. They swim in large 

 shoals, spawning in May ; and at that time the head and 

 gill-covers are rough to the touch. Though not of sufficient 

 consequence to claim any attention as an article of food, or 

 at all superior as an eatable, the Bleak affords excellent 

 amusement to young fly-fishers, rising eagerly to almost any 

 small fly, and sporting incessantly on a fine day at the sur- 

 face of the water. Mr. Jesse, in his Gleanings, says : " But 

 of all the fish confined in a vivarium in Bushy Park, the 

 Bleak were the most amusing and playful. Their activity 



