17 



aad a large one, for the price of two house lambs in February. 

 In these degenerate days, I am afraid, neither fishmonger nor 

 butcher, can be persuaded to give, tlie one, ten tnrbots for a pike, 

 and the other, a couple of lambs. As taste is often subservient 

 to fashion — and as the dear, must, of course, be the fashionable — 

 probably taste had no more to do with the reputation pike 

 formerly enjoyed, than it has for the modem preference of house 

 lamb. 



The quality of fish, depends greatly on food. The pike of the 

 Medway, at those seasons when feeding on smelts, are in the 

 highest condition, and of remarkably fine flavour. Nor is this at 

 all extraordinary. The honey, from bees which collect it from 

 particular flowers, is peculiarly flavoured. The partridge which 

 lives among heath, more nearly resembles the grouse, than the 

 partridge of other localities. And this is natural. Since food 

 replenishes evaporation, it is clear that food must impregnate the 

 substance, with its own appropriate characteristics. 



Of the sturgeons (accipenser), there is one — the common 

 sturgeon (A. sturio), which pays an occasional visit to the Wye : 

 and a personal struggle has several times ensued between fish and 

 biped — ^not always to the glory of the latter — for they are known 

 to reach more than four cwt. This is the largest fish that seeks 

 fresh water, for the purpose of spawning. In spite of its bulk, 

 and alliance with the shark, it is perfectly harmless; and exhibits 

 in its structure, a very low degree of organization. Its skeleton 

 is cartilagenous, and not bony ; and the tail has one lobe much 

 shorter than the other. Its flesh is tolerably good; and it is 

 particularly valuable for the eggs, which are manufactured into 

 caviar ; and for its air-bladder — ^from which the finest isinglass is 

 prepared. 



The flat fishes (pleuronectidae), furnish one member of their 

 family to Herefordshire — the flounder. This is a very remarkable 

 genus : — whereas all other fishes swim on the belly, the flat fishes 

 swim on their side. In the vertibrate kingdom, it is unique on 

 another account — its want of symmetry in the head : both eyes 

 are placed on one side ; and an animal, to be symmetrical, must 



