THROAT TEETH OF THE BAEBEL. \f 



and steer liim in the rapid currents and mill-streams in 

 ■which he lives. If we move the serrated ray iii3wards, 

 we find the whole fin follows it, and is kept tense by it ; 

 let it go, and the fin again sinks dowai. In the mast of 

 a London barge w^e find a parallel contrivance. The 

 barge makes headway by means of this contrivance ; 

 so does the barbel, only that his sail (so to speak) is 

 opposed to water, not wind. 



Most fish that live in dark places have scales more 

 or less brihiant. The barbel's scales are of a pale gold 

 colour edged with black. They are very numerous, and 

 this will be seen if a portion of the barbel's skin be taken 

 off and dried on the window-pane. It is not everybody 

 who can catch barbel. They are very artful, and re- 

 quire to be collected by means of ground-bait. 



A good day's barbel fishing is enjoyable above all 

 measure, but it is most advisable to employ a profes- 

 sional fisherman to ground-bait the " swim," arrange 

 the tackle, &c. The finer the tackle used for barbel the 

 more sport you get in catching them. The bite of the 

 barbel is a double knock, a "rat-tat." I myself like to 

 use a Nottingham reel. The barbel when first caught 

 has the power of making a verypecuhar noise, which is 

 one of the many problems which I wdsli my readers to 

 investigate and, if possible, explain. If the finger be 

 placed down the throat of a live barbel, it will be found 

 that it will be nipped very smartly by a set of very 

 large teeth in the pharynx. These should be taken out, 

 and the flesh removed either by boiling or scraping, or 

 both ; it will then be seen they are very strong and 

 crooked, mounted in three rows. 



