124 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



fit for nothing better than to feed pigs withal. Undoubtedly 

 barbel are regularly eaten by the inhabitants of many parts 

 of the Continent ; but most writers report the flesh as very 

 insipid. There is a good deal of evidence to the effect that the 

 roe is actually deleterious to man, and even poisonous. Sir 

 John Hawkins (1719-1789) went further, stating in a note to 

 his edition of the Compleat Angler (1760) that one of his 

 servants, who had eaten part of a barbel, but not the roe, 

 " was seized with such a violent purging and vomiting as 

 had like to have cost him his life." Dame Berners (1486) 

 also utters a warning note. " The barbyll is a swete fysshe, 

 but it is a quasy mete, and peryllous for mannys bodye. For 

 comynly he gevyth an introduction to the febris (fevers) ; 

 and yf he be eten rawe, he maye be cause of mannys dethe, 

 whyche hath oft been scene." One is disposed to ask whether, 

 in making this statement, she had in her mind her own 

 precept, not " to wryte more than I knowe and haue prouyd." 

 Undoubtedly no man who values his health will be tempted 

 to yield to an appetite for raw barbel, seeing that more than 

 most fish is this one liable to harbour internal parasites of the 

 most formidable description ; and, on the whole, even when 

 cooked in the most artistic manner, it is food after which few 

 people will hanker. Nevertheless in old times barbel were 

 frequently served at royal and other banquets. 



The Gudgeon (Gobio fluviatilis) 



FIN FORMULA. 

 Dorsal : 9 or 10 rays. 

 Pectoral : 15 rays. 

 Ventral : 8 rays. 

 Anal : 8 rays. 

 Caudal ' : 19 rays. 



TEETH. 



On the pharynx, 

 hooked at the 

 end, in two rows. 



The genus Gobio consists of two species, both native to- 

 European waters. The British species, Gobio fluviatilis, is 

 slightly the larger, although it seldom attains six inches in 



