INTRODUCTION 



for the table. The remains of fish-ponds dating from 

 manorial and monastic days go to prove that fresh- 

 water fishes and their consumption were more popular 

 in those times than they are to-day. Of the anatomy of 

 fishes it is not proposed to write at any length. The 

 general appearance of a fish's body is familiar enough to 

 young and old alike, and it will be agreed how well 

 fashioned they are for the life they lead. Some, it is 

 true, are less prepossessing than others. Some are quite 

 good-looking, others are very much the reverse. Some 

 are fast swimmers and expert hunters, others are of 

 sluggish disposition, and seem resolved at all times to 

 exert themselves as Httle as possible. Some delight to 

 dwell in a shallow clear-running stream, others are only 

 found in deep still pools where it is difficult to follow 

 them in their home life. Some revel in a pond or stream 

 where there is a profusion of mud, others much prefer 

 a clean gravelly bed upon which to disport themselves. 

 Some are rarely found far away from water containing 

 an abundant supply of weeds actually growing in the 

 environment, others are not averse to showing them- 

 selves in open situations well away from cover. Some 

 species flourish in a stagnant pool (where there is never- 

 theless an abundant food-supply), some are quite out of 

 their element except in a fast-flowing stream or river, 

 others seem equally well at home in either. Some 

 appear to congregate more near an outlet to the sea, 

 such as an estuary, others seem to prefer a land-locked 



mountain tarn, so high up and so far away from any 



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