rs2 



SCANDINAVIAN I-'ISIIES. 



more soutlicrii cuuntries earlier, sometiiiu's even in Ajiril. 

 'I'lic males iiiul females then join company and gather 

 in siiailow, weedy inlets, where the spawning taises 

 place, accompanied l)y a hahbling or smacking noise. 

 This sound is produced by the tish |)utting tiieir snouts 

 to the sui'face, oyjening the mouth, and emitting an 

 air-l)uhble, wliich floats on the water and bursts. The 

 rue is fleposited on the weeds, and is liatched in S — 10 

 days, the length of time i'e(|uired depending on the 

 weather. In a female weighing 293 grammes Bloch 

 estimate<l tlic ninnber of the eggs at 91,720. 



The Iiiidd is used as food only bv the poor. Tlie 

 flesh is flaljby, l)ony, and always more or less tainted 

 ^vith nuid. Furthermore, as the fish is hardly ever 

 found, even during the spawning-season, in large shoals, 

 it is only stddom tliat the fisherman pays any special 

 attention to it. Traps (riis.y'nr, see ]>. ;-)3, fig. 7) are 

 set at the spawning-place, in which case care should 

 i>e taken to lay them close to the bottom. Wicler- 

 liiiskets {mjardar, see p. .")2, fig. (i) may also be em- 

 ]il()yed at the sjiawning-place, but are less useful. In 

 the tri(iini/i'/-iicf the Rudd is taken all the summer on 

 warm and fine dnys and at ]ilaces thickly overgrinxn 

 with weeds. The trammel should be shot amona' tlie 



weeds, for if it he set outside them, the Rudd refuses 

 to be driven into tlie meshes. By <inf/li)ig it may also 

 be caught throughout the summer, for it bites eagerlv 

 at a worm. It is almost alwa\s taken in com|)any 

 with other fishes. 



The Rudd's fondness for joining, as an interlo])er, 

 in the spawning of other fishes has produced several 

 hybrids, one of which, jACKiiLs" Scardiniopsis ancops, 

 is a cross l)et\\een this species and the preceding one. 

 In this form the position of the dor-sal fin is the same 

 as in the Roach: but the size of the scales and the 

 pectination of the pharyngeal teeth remind us of the 

 the Rudd. The dorsal fin contains 10 branched rays, 

 the anal 11 or 12. The nund)er and distribution of 

 the pharyngeal teeth vary, being, according to Jackel, 

 .") — .); — .5, 1; 1, ."j — .'); or 1, .") — b, 2. This hybrid 

 occurs in Bavaria, but has not yet been found in 

 Sweden. Another hybrid form, a cross between the 

 Rudd and the Bleak, is also unknown in Sweden; 

 but a third, the result of cross-breeding lietween the 

 Rudd and the Wldte r>rcam, has been met with in 

 this counti'y, and a brief notice of this variety will he 

 found below. 



(EkSTHoM, S.MITT.) 



Genvs ASPIUS". 



Scales mi(l(Ur-si.-:ed. Lateral line eowplele. Lo/rer jair distiiietli/ iiromUienI, irith the pohit titt'oKj iida an iii- 

 dentathiu in the tip of the snout. Caudal lobes pointed. Length of the base of the anal fin more than I'J % of 

 the distance betn-ecn this fin and the tip of the snout. L'ef/inninc/ of the dorsal fn situated in fro)/t of the 

 middle of the bodij, (did the disfauce between it and the tip of the snout less than S(! % of that betwecit the 



anal fin and the same point. 



Thus defined, the genus contains only one spe- i midines. The character by which GCNTHEii distin- 



cies', and is ranged by its flatly convex belly (oidy | guished this genus from Alhurnus, the short and 



slightly carinated between the ventivd and anal tins) j scattered gill-rakers, as well as the wide gajie, is an 



beside the most t}'pical Leuciscines, but owing to i expression of its moi-e predatory natui-e, a ])oint in 



the comparatively great length of the anal fin forms which this genus is unet[ualled by any of our other 



a distinct link between the Leuciscines and the Al>i'a- , C'yprinoids. 



" Die Fisclie Baijerus, Ablj. Zool. Miner. Vfr. Resensluirg, '.i:tes Hcfl (1S(J4), p. 64. 



'' Agassiz, Mem. Soc. Sc. Nat. Neucli., toiii. I (183G), \>. as. 



' The Syrian Asjnus vorax (Heckel, Russef/g. Reii^e. Tli. II, \>. 1081, tub. X, fig. ;!) lias small scales and a slmrt anal Hn. Tlic 

 Chinese Anpins spilurus (Gunth.. Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. \II, |i. .jll) lias large scales and an elongated body, more closely resembling 

 Albiirnv^. Kessler has described an Aspiwf evytiirostonms from the Caspian and the Sea of Aral, and Jacowlev an Aspius liyliridus from 

 the ninntli of the Volga; but these forms are otlicrwise nnUnown to ns. 



