Book VII. 



THE ESCULENT FROG. 



1057 



sediment. Pike should never be kept in ponds with carp or tench, hut in separate breed- 

 ing-ponds, where the- supplies of small fry are considerable and not wanted for stores. 

 Carp, tench, and perch are the sorts principally cultivated with a view to ])rofit, with a few- 

 eels occasionally. But perch and eels should not be admitted where the ponds are but 

 thinly stocked, as they are great devourers of the young fish. Carp and tench answer 

 best together where the extents of the ponds are pretty large, as, in other cases, the for 

 mer, from being a much more powerful fish, beats and deprives the latter of his food. 

 Carp seldom afford much profit in ponds of less extent than half an acre; but tench 

 thrive well in those of almost every size, being often found good in poods of only a few 

 perches square. Carp, perch, and eels succeed well together ; and also tench and eels. 

 Carp more frequently injure themselves by breeding than tench, though it sometimes 

 happens with the latter. It is not improbable, but that in small ponds it may be the best 

 practice to keep the carp and tench separate. The produce or profit afforded by fish- 

 ponds has not yet, perhaps, been suflficiently attended to in different situations to afford 

 correct conclusions ; nor is it well ascertained what is the annual increase in weight in 

 fish of different kinds, in different periods of their growth, and under different circum- 

 stances of soil and water. Loveden {Annals of Agriculture) states, that in Berkshire a 

 pond of three acres and a half, drawn after being stocked three years with stores of one 

 year old, produced of carp, 195 lb. weight, of tench 230 ditto; together 425 lb., which 

 sold for 20^. 10s. or nearly 2/. 6s. per acre per aunum. 



68 1 4. T/ie taking of cultivated Jish is generally done with nets, and sometimes by empty- 

 ing the pond of water. "Whatever way is adopted, only those fit to be used are taken, and 

 the rest returned to grow larger. No fish is taken, or fit to be used, for a month before 

 and after the spawning season, which with most fresh water fish is in April, May, or June. 

 The Marquis de Chabanes proposes to catch fish, both in fresh and salt water, by immers- 

 ing a burning lamp in an air box with mirrors, and round which he has traps into which 

 the animals are to be entangled, while approaching the light and the multiplied images of 

 their own species. For this contrivance he has taken out a patent. Salmon are some- 

 times caught by torch light. 



6815. The castration offish has been successfully practised both in this and other coun- 

 tries, and both with the male and female. Castrated fish attain to a larger size, and are in 

 season at any period of the year. The mode of performing the operation is described in 

 Rees's CyclopcBdia, art. Fish, Castration of; and in the PhilosojMcal Transactions, vol. 48. 

 part ii. p. 106. 



6816. Of the amphibece which are or may be cultivated for food or ornament, the prin- 

 cipal are the frog and tortoise. 



6817. The esculent frog (Rana esculenta, L., 

 fig, 741 a), though generally despised in this 



country, is yet an excellent article to those who 

 are accustomed to it ; and there are few English- 

 men who have eaten a fricasse of the thighs of 

 this animal in France or Italy, but what would , 

 wish to do so again. The body of this frog is 

 green, with three yellow lines, the middle ones 

 extending from the mouth to the anus, with the 

 angles of the mouth distended in a globular form ;- 

 the male makes a continual croaking in an even- 

 ing, especially before rain ; when irritated will 

 pursue and destroy a pike. It is rare in Eng- 

 land, but very common on the continent, where 

 it is in seasfon for the table in June. 



6818. The tree frog (Rana arborea, L., b),' 

 is green above, and whitish beneath, with a yel- 

 low curved line on the side. In elegance and 

 activity it is superior Jo every other European 

 species. In summer it resides in the woods, and haunts tht 



which it approaches on its belly, in the same manner as a cat to a mouse, and at length 

 seizes with an elastic and instantaneous spring. It is particularly noisy on the approach 

 of rain. In winter it takes up its abode in the bottom of the waters, remaining till the 

 spring in a state of torpor. The noise of this frog is by many considered musical, and 

 it is often kept in gardens in Germany both as a curiosity and as a weather guide. It 

 certainly deserves introduction to this country. 



6819. There are two s])ecies of tortoise which might be cultivated: the common, and 

 the mud tortoise. The common tortoise [Tcstndo greeca,!^., fig. 742 a) weighs three 

 pounds, and the length of its shell about seven inches. It abounds in the countries 

 surrounding the Mediterranean, and particularly in Greece, where the inhabitants 

 not only eat its flesh and eggs, but frequently swallow its warm blood. In Sep- 



3 Y 



trees in quest of insects, 



