THE MINNOW 14! 
The minnow is one of the most familiarly known 
inhabitants of our waters, for it abounds in most parts of 
England and Southern Scotland, although, as will be noted 
presently, there are some singular gaps in its range. Of 
the thousands of people who are accustomed to see these 
little fish swarming in clear, swift streams, many would 
be surprised to learn that they are to be numbered among 
the carps, so widely do they differ in habit and action from 
the heavier members of that great family, and in colour 
from the rest of the silvery genus Leuciscus. 
In length the minnow measures five or six times its own 
depth, and its thickness is about two-thirds or three-fourths 
of its depth; consequently it has a plump, muscular 
appearance, which, combined with its elongated form, agrees 
well with its incessant activity, for minnows may very seldom 
be detected at rest. The snout is rounded and arched over 
a small, but exceedingly serviceable, mouth. The body is 
covered with delicate scales, so small that eighty or ninety 
of these may be counted along the lateral line, or about 
twice as many as in the roach. The colour varies, not 
only with the season, but from day to day, and even from 
hour to hour, the prospect of a good meal being quite 
enough to cause a marked change in the complexion of 
this little fish, The mechanism of this colour variation 
has been explained to consist in two layers of pigment cells, 
one above the other in the skin. The outer layer has star- 
shaped cells containing black pigment, which contract on 
occasion and allow the light to be reflected from a yellow 
pigment in the inner layer of cells. Excitement, therefore, 
which betrays itself in the human countenance by a flush of 
rose-colour, changes the aspect of the minnow from grey 
to gold. In spawning time, when the males are brightest, 
they may be described as dark olive on the back, with 
a black band or line extending from head to tail, sometimes 
broken into blotches or spots. Metallic lights gleam through 
