212 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



angle of the mouth ; pharyngeal teeth hooked at the 

 end. 



The gudgeon is found in many rivers, but the Thames, 

 Mersey, Colne, Kennet, and Avon produce the finest. 

 It is gregarious, and feeds on worms, aquatic insects, 

 larvae, small mollusca, and the ova and small fry of 

 other fish. It is, therefore, not a desirable fish in trout- 

 streams. 



The colour of the upper part of head, back, and sides 

 olive-brown, spotted with black ; eyes orange-red, pupil 

 large and dark ; gill-covers greenish-white ; all the under 

 surface of the body white, tinged with brown ; dorsal fin 

 and tail pale brown, spotted with darker brown. 



Fin-rays: dorsal, 910; pectoral, 15-16; ventral, 8-9; 

 anal, 8 ; caudal, 19. 



The fish is considered a great delicacy, and gudgeon 

 fishing on the Thames is an institution, and to some, as 

 Daniel says, a singular fascination. He relates a story 

 of the minister of Thames Ditton, who was engaged to be 

 married to the daughter of the Bishop of London on a cer- 

 tain day, but he went out fishing for gudgeon that morning, 

 and, unfortunately for him, oversta3^ed the canonical hour, 

 and the lady, greatly offended at his neglect, refused to 

 have anything more to say to him. 



Old writers say that gudgeon spawn twice or thrice 

 a year. The late Mr. Manley also, in " Fish and Fishing," 

 remarks that they increase marvellously, spawning, it is 

 said, no less than three times in the year ; and it is a 

 curious fact in natural history that the females outnumber 

 the males by six to one. Dr. Day says : " They spawn 

 in April, May, and June, depositing their small bluish 

 ova among stones and in the shallow streams. In some 

 localities they are supposed to breed three times a year, 

 or take a long time spawning." Yarrell says the gudgeon 

 spawns in May, and he found its fry an inch long in 

 August. 



