BARBEL AND BREAM. 249 
will be found until the spring; and in these quiet deeps 
and eddies they are to be caught, if anywhere, during 
the winter months. At this period, however, especially 
if the weather is very cold, it is of comparatively little 
use to fish for Barbel, as they lie ina sort of semi- 
torpid condition, and refuse to move. So inanimate 
are they, that the fishermen not unfrequently provide 
themselves with hoop landing-nets, which they place 
near the fish, and with a pole literally push them in ; and 
I have known shoals to collect under the shelter of a 
sunken punt, or other tidal obstruction, lying so closely 
one over the other as to present the appearance of a 
solid mass. 
THE BREAM. 
There are two species of Bream which are more or 
less generally scattered throughout the waters of Great 
Britain.—the common, or Carp Bream (abramis brama), 
and the White Bream, or Bream-flat (abramis blicca). 
The latter I have caught occasionally, but it is a mise- 
rable, bony fish, rarely exceeding one pound in weight, 
and almost as worthless for angling as for eating. In 
colour it is silvery, or dusky, instead of golden, but the 
most certain distinction is to be found in the teeth, 
situated in the throat, and which in the Bream-flat are 
placed in two rows on each side, numbering three 
and five respectively, whilst those of the Carp Bream 
are placed in one row only on each side, numbering five. 
In order to examine the teeth properly the jawbone 
