• WSIANKA. 



789 



ventr;il tins lieinji' only 11 — 13. In tbrin and stnicturc 

 they sliow most resemblance to those of the common 

 Bleak, heini;' deeper than long (of broad elliptical shape, 

 with longitudinal axis set across the body), with few 

 and indistinct radiating grooves, and with the nucleus 

 nearer to the anterior margin than to tlie postei-ior. 

 In young specimens only few scales (o — 4 or even none) 

 are pierced by the lateral line as it descends in a curve 

 from the temjjoral region, while in old specimens this 

 nundiei- is generally between 7 and I.".. 



The coloration too is maiidy that of Albuniiis. The 

 dorsal side is olive green, more or less dark (brownisli). 

 The sides of the body are of a silvery lustre, with a 

 steel-blue band, over which the silvery lustre extends, 

 from the u[iper part of the gill-openings to the middle 

 of the base of the caudal fin, towards which point it 

 grows more distinct. The scales are dotted with brown, 

 especially on the up]ier part of the sides in front. 

 The fins are transparent and almost colourless, the 

 dorsal and anal shading into grayish green, tlie pec-- 

 torals into grayish white, the ventrals and anal into 

 faint yello\v. 



Tlie Owsianka, as we have mentioned, is one 

 of Lill.jeborg's discoveries in the Scandinavian fauna. 

 In 1871 his attention was directed by Mr. Ahlbom, late 

 Collector in the Customs' Department, to a "variety of 

 Bleak" that inhabited a small, but deep pond with peaty 

 bottom, in a field near Landskrona. The fish would 

 occasionally seem to have vanished from the pool, but 

 usually re-appeared in great numbers during the spring, 

 in the month of May. Lilljeborg recognised this Bleak 

 as LcHcaspiiis {Squcdius) delineatus, a form described 

 first by Hkckel; and since then it has been met with 

 in many other peat-haggs in Southern Scania between 

 Landskrona and Ystad. But in Sweden, as in its true 

 habitat, the species has been found in running water, 

 even before Lilljeborg's discovery, though it was not 

 correctly determined until then. Malji states in (rbf/s, 

 Boh. Fn. that in September, 18(38 he found it in the 

 Kjeflinge near the railway-station of Urtofta, where 



it ke]it to siiallow watei' near the grassy bank of the 

 river; and according to Tkybo.m it occurs both in 

 broads along tlu^ courses of the same stream and in Lake 

 Vomb, the waters of which are discharged by this 

 rivei', l)eing so plentiful that it is often used as bait. 

 In Deinnark I'ikdi.kk and I'lCDDEiisKX have taken the 

 species in small pools on the island of Zealand. 



In Germany, as Siebold has pointed out, the 

 Owsianka has long been known under the names 

 of Jfiitferlo.tckcii (motherless), ModerHeskeii, etc. Its 

 sudden appearance in peat-haggs and other small col- 

 lections of water, which excited Ahlbom's attention in 

 Sweden, had given rise in Schonevelde's time to the 

 belief that it came into being without parents {aphya). 

 In Germany too it lias been found both in peat-haggs 

 and small streams. Blasuis met with numerous spe- 

 cimens at Brunswick; Benecke states that it occurs in 

 the Kurische Haff. The French Expedition to the ilo- 

 rea found the species in Lake Zaraco, the famed Stym- 

 phalian Lake of Greek mythology. It seems to be most 

 common, however, in Southern Russia, where it bears 

 the name of owsianlia, and according to Czernay, is 

 used as food, in s])ite of its small size, and considered 

 fairly good eating. 



The Owsianka, like the great majoiity of our 

 Cyprinoids, spawns in spring, the usual month in 

 Sweden being May, in Germany April. It is a lively 

 tish, in temperament resembling the Bleak, and also 

 feeding on small insects. It dies soon after it is taken 

 out of the water. Its apparently periodical disappear- 

 ance from the peat-haggs — in Southern Russia too, 

 according to Maslowsky, it is caught in the small 

 streams only from September to April — may proljably 

 be explained either by some migration after the spawn- 

 ing-season, should any egress be open to the fish, or 

 on the assumption that at certain seasons it keeps to 

 the liottom of the deep pools, appearing at the surface 

 when the water is disturbed. In Sweden it is some- 

 times fried and made into 'fish-cake* like other small 

 fishes, but this is the only form in which it is eaten. 



