134 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
English synonyms than any other inhabitant of our waters, 
as though men would persuade themselves that so substantial 
a creature, disguised under a tempting alias, might make a 
prettier dish. But it is all of no avail; nobody has had a 
good word for this fish on the table since Izaak Walton made 
Venator exclaim, after sampling the big chub with the white 
spot on its tail, ‘Trust me, ‘tis as good meat as ever I 
tasted.” 
Most people who have tried it continue to be of Venator’s 
earlier opinion. ‘Oh, sir! a chub is the worst fish that 
swims ; I hoped for a trout to my dinner.” Even the French 
can make nothing of him, and dub him /e vilain or /e vilain 
testard. More’s the pity, for the chub shows more sport than 
most of his kindred, reaches a heavy weight, and rises well 
to the artificial fly. 
Two features mainly distinguish the chub—its plump, 
thick body, and its heavy head. From the first of these 
characteristics has come the name “ chub ”—that which is 
plump ; from the second has come the older English name 
“chevin,” from the old French cheviniau (modern French 
chevanne), a derivative of chef, the head, and equivalent to 
the Italian name for this fish—capitone. 
In colour the chub is dark greenish or bluish on the back, 
bright silvery on the sides, sometimes tinged with brassy hues 
in large specimens. The skin is covered with large and strong 
scales, those above the lateral line measuring one-half more 
in diameter than the eye. As in all cyprinoid fish, there is 
a curious spine-like scale situated just over the insertion of 
each ventral fin. In the chub, this scale, like the ventral 
and anal fins, is coloured bright red ; the pectoral fins are 
greenish, the dorsal and caudal very dark grey, ruddy at 
the base. The iris is golden, with green spots. The 
chub grows to a larger size than any other of the British 
white fish, except the bream. It is often taken weighing 
from 2 lb. to 3 Ib., rarely as much as 5 lb. or 6 lb. Mr. 
