484 Fishes. 



summer evenings on the surface of rivers in chase of flies, 

 bread-crumbs, &c. The scales are employed in making 

 artificial pearls. 



THE BKEAM, (Gyprinw Brama,) 



Is a flattish fish, not unlike the carp in several points, but 

 much broader in proportion to its length and thickness. 

 Its head is truncated, the upper jaw a little projecting ; 

 the forehead a bluish black; cheeks yellowish; body 

 olive, paler below ; fins obscure, with an oblong conical 

 process at the base of the ventral fins ; twenty -nine rays 

 in the anal fin ; its greatest length is about two feet. 

 The scales are large, and of a bright colour ; the tail has 

 the form of a crescent. It frequents the deepest parts 

 of livers, lakes, and ponds. These fish spawn in May, 

 secluding themselves at that time so carefully in the 

 ooze at the bottom of the water that they are seldom 

 found with either soft or hard roe in them, so that in 

 some countries the name is often used to denote sterility. 

 The flesh is not comparable to that of the carp. 



The "White Bream never exceeds a pound in weight, 

 and is consequently much smaller than the Common 

 or Carp Bream, which frequently weighs seven or eight 

 pounds. 



In some of the lakes of Ireland great quantities of 

 Bream are taken, many of them of very large size, some- 

 times weighing as much as twelve or even fourteen pounds 



