CHAP. IV.] 



THAMES ANGLERS. 



151 



and high spirits, and an anxiety to excel in his craft, as one 

 can easily see who ventures by the side of the water about 

 Kew and Eichmond. 



" With hurried steps, 



The anxious angler paces on, nor looks aside, 

 Lest some brother of the angle, ere he arrive, 

 Possess his favourite swim." 







THAMES ANGLERS. FROM AN OLD PICTURE. 



I come now to the perch, a well-known because common 

 fish, about which a great deal has been written, and which is 

 easily taken by the angler. There are a great number of 

 species of this fish, from the common perch of our own canals 

 and lochs to the "lates" of the Nile, or the beautiful golden- 

 tailed mesoprion, which swims in the seas of Japan and India 

 and flashes out brilliant rays of colour. The perch was assidu- 

 ously cultivated in ancient Italy, in the days when pisciculture 

 was an adjunct of gastronomy, and was thought to equal the 



