72 LOACHES. 



Finding, while I was on a visit, that I was within 

 a reasonable distance of Ambresbury, I sent a ser- 

 vant over to that town, and procured several living 

 specimens of loaches, which he brought, safe and 

 brisk, in a glass decanter. They were taken in the 

 gulleys that were cut for watering the meadows. 

 From these fishes (which measured from two to 

 four inches in length) I took the following descrip- 

 tion : "The loach, in its general aspect, has a pel- 

 lucid appearance ; its back is mottled with irregular 

 collections of small black dots, not reaching much 

 below the linea literalis, as are the back and tail 

 fins ; a black line runs from each eye down to the 

 nose ; its belly is of a silvery white ; the upper 

 jaw projects beyond the lower, and is surrounded 

 with six feelers, three on each side ; its pectoral 

 fins are large, its ventral much smaller; the fin 

 behind its anus small ; its dorsal fin large, c ntain- 

 ing eight spines ; its tail, where it joins to the tail 

 fin, remarkably broad, without any taperness, so as 

 to be characteristic of this genus ; the tail fin is 

 broad, and square at the end. From the breadth 

 and muscular strength of the tail, it appears to be 

 an active nimble fish." 



In my visit I was not very far from Hungerford, 



ning of August. They are not furnished with any elongation 

 of jaw, afforded to most of our fresh water fish, to form the re- 

 ceiving furrows in this important season ; but the want is sup- 

 plied by their sucker-like mouth, by which they individually 

 remove each stone. Their power is immense. Stones of a very 

 large size are transported, and a large furrow is soon formed. 

 The p. marinus remain in pairs, two on each spawning place, and 

 while there employed, retain themselves affixed by the mouths 

 to a large stone. The p. fluviatilis, and another small species 

 which I have not determined, are gregarious, acting in concert, 

 and forming, in the same manner, a general spawning bed. 

 W. J. 



