DACE AND CHUB. 261 
expression of bewilderment as he endeavoured to iden- 
tify the species of his “ captive” by a critical comparison 
of the relative measurements of the head, body,.and fins, 
according to the ichthyological formulary given in the 
pages of that scientific, but to the uninitiated, somewhat 
perplexing volume. Was it a small Chub or a large Dace 
that he had caught? This was the problem. I forget 
whether he succeeded at last in solving it; but if the 
angler will bear in mind the following simple distin- 
guishing characteristic he need never be in a similar 
dilemma :—7Tzhe ventral (or belly) fins of the Dace are 
always greenish with a slight tinge of red, whilst the anal 
jin has no red about it whatever; in the Chub both these 
fins are of a brilliant pink colour. 
As the Chub grows larger, the chocolate brown, 
almost black, of its tail-fin becomes more marked, 
and the whole fish rapidly assumes a bronzed or golden 
appearance, in place of the prevailing silvery tint 
which the Dace retains in its original brilliancy to the 
last. 
The Dace is indeed a bright, graceful fish, glancing 
about in the clear quiet streams with which the southern 
counties of England especially abound, and which are 
too often barren of Trout or Salmon. Moreover, it is 
in full season in October, November, December, and 
January, when the latter fish are spawning or preparing 
for the process, and thus a red-lettered day’s sport is not 
unfrequently to be obtained, which would otherwise have 
