268 



FOOD FOR TE.XCH AND GOLD-FISH TOESK. 



Gillbanlvs, who was a great botanist, writes me : " The 

 natural food both of carp and tench is the Larvae of 

 insects, small worms, and the soft parts of various 

 aquatic plants." When I was at Cambridge, the men 

 who went wildfowl- shooting with me called some of 

 the weed that abounded thereabouts " tench w^eed." It 

 was one of the Potamageton tribe, on the broad leaves 

 of which tench deposit their eggs, which hatch out in a 

 very few days. 



As regards keeping common tench, golden tench, and 

 especially gold-fish, Mr. Gillbanks v/rites : " The water 

 in which they are placed cannot be too soft. I give my 

 gold fish rianunculus aquatilis and Pianuncidus hederecea 

 — the ivy-leaf sort. The small flowers of these are 

 very pretty, and they take up little room, as the foliage 

 and flowers are at the top, aft'ording shade and harbour 

 for delicate mollusks such as Limneus jjereger, the 

 planorhis, the fresh-water limpet, which feed on con- 

 ferva) and keep the water clear." 



TORSK. 



Anacanth'uii Thoracici. Godidce, 



The Torsk, or Tusk, is a northern fish, seldom found 

 much further south than the 68th degree. It is only 



Tons::. 



occasionally caught in the Forth, but more frequently 

 in the Orkney Isles, and is plentiful among the Shet- 



