220 THE COMPLETE ANGLER 



slips, and of primroses, and a little tansy ; thus used, they 

 make a dainty dish of meat. 



The Loach is, as I told you, a most dainty fish ; he 

 breeds and feeds in little and clear swift brooks or rills, 

 and lives there upon the gravel, and in the sharpest 

 streams : he grows not to be above a finger long, and no 

 thicker than is suitable to that length. This loach is not 

 unlike the shape of the eel ; he has a beard or wattles 

 like a barbel. He has two fins at his sides, four at 

 his belly, and one at his tail ; he is dappled with many 



MINNOW, LOACH, AND MILLER's-THUMB 



black or brown spots, his mouth is barbel-like under his 

 nose. 



This fish is usually full of eggs or spawn ; and is by 

 Gesner, and other learned physicians, commended for great 

 nourishment, and to be very grateful both to the palate 

 and stomach of sick persons : he is to be fished for with a 

 very small worm at the bottom, for he very seldom or 

 never rises above the gravel, on which I told you he usually 

 gets his living. 



The Miller's-Thumb, or Bull-head, is a fish of no 

 pleasing shape. 

 He is by Gesner compared to the sea-toad-fish, for his 



