CYPRINUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. 415 



(Colours.) Back olivaceous green; sides and belly bright silvery; the 

 two colours separated by a well-defined line: cheeks and gill-covers 

 silvery white: all the fins pale; the anal and ventrals nearly pure 

 white: irides pale yellow. 



Common in rivers, swimming in large shoals near the surface. Spawns 

 in May and June. Food, principally insects. 



96. C. Phoxinus, Linn. (Minnow.) Body slender, 

 rounded : jaws equal : scales very minute : anal with ten 

 or eleven rays : fins pale. 



C. Phoxinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 528. Block, Ichth. pi. 8. 

 f. 5. Don. Brit. Fish. vol. in. pi. 60. Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 109. 

 Leuciscus Phoxinus, Flem. Brit. An. p. 188. Pink or Minim, 

 Will. Hist. Pise. p. 268. tab. Q. 8. f. 7. Minnow, Penn. Brit. 

 Zool. vol. in. p. 373. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. in. p. 489. Bowd. 

 Brit. fr. wat. Fish. Draw. no. 8. Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. 

 p. 372. Le Veron, Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 276. 



LENGTH. From three to four inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Body elongated and rounded, tapering posteriorly: 

 dorsal line but slightly curved ; ventral more convex : greatest depth a 

 little before the ventrals, equalling about one-fifth of the entire length : 

 head rather less than one-fifth : thickness exceeding half the depth : snout 

 short; jaws equal: eyes small: nostrils wide, approximating: lateral 

 line very slightly descending ; its course a little below the middle : scales 

 very minute : dorsal entirely behind the middle, as well as the ventrals ; 

 first ray half the length of the second ; second and third longest ; the 

 first two and the last in the fin simple ; the rest branched : anal com- 

 mencing in a vertical line with the last ray of the dorsal ; first ray very 

 short and easily overlooked; second not half the length of the third; 

 third and fourth longest ; the first three and the last ray of all simple ; 

 the others branched : caudal forked for nearly half its length : pectorals 

 about three-fourths the length of the head : ventrals a little shorter : 



D. 10 ; A. 10 or 11 ; C. 19, &c. ; P. 16; V. 8. 



(Colours.) Back, and upper half of the sides, deep olive-brown, some- 

 times spotted with black; lateral line often of a golden hue; lower 

 portion of the sides and belly yellowish white, but (in the males ?) 

 during the spawning season of a rich crimson: dorsal and caudal fins 

 pale brown; generally a large dusky spot at the base of the caudal; 

 anal, pectorals, and ventrals, lighter. 



Common in rivers, more especially those with a gravelly bottom. 

 Keeps in shoals. Spawns the end of May, or beginning of June, at 

 which season the head is covered with small tubercles. Food, worms, 

 insects, and aquatic plants. 



(16.) C. Idus, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 529. Bloch, Ichth. pi. 36. 

 The Ide, Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 344. 



Said to have been found by the late Dr. Walker in the mouth of the 

 Nith*. Its claims, however, to a place in the British Fauna do not 

 appear to have been confirmed by any subsequent observer. 



* Steiv. Rl of Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 382. 



