BRITISH SPORTING FISH. 139 



to be left blank in the angler's diary. As a live- 

 bait for Pike also it is especially worthy of notice, 

 its scaling being brilliant, so as to be easily seen 

 in thick water, and its entire appearance glittering 

 and attractive. 



This " silveryness," combined with its compara- 

 tively rounded or cylindrical conformation of body 

 renders it a matter of ease to distinguish it at a 

 glance from its congeners, the Roach, Rudd, and 

 Bleak, which are all flattened at the sides, and also 

 from the other species of the Carp family in which 

 the colouring is either golden or bronze, or darker 

 as in the Barbel or Tench. There is, however, 

 one allied species, and, so to say, 'next door 

 neighbour,' from which the non-naturalist is often 

 easily perplexed to distinguish the Dace. When 

 the Chub is not full grown its resemblance to the 

 Dace is so strong that I have often known ex- 

 perienced fishermen at fault in determining posi- 

 tively whether the fish which they had caught was a 

 large Dace or a small Chub. By bearing the 

 following rule in mind no fisherman need ever be 

 in doubt as to the fish he has in his basket : The 

 hinder margin of the anal fin of the Chub is 

 convex, and of the Dace concave ; this fin in the 

 Dace is usually of a pale greenish white, with a 

 very slight tinge of red in the Chub it is of a 

 brilliant pink colour. 



In adult specimens, the size of the Chub is, of 

 course, generally a sufficient distinction without 



