M I N N O W. 



241 



may be derived from the following brief tabular 

 view : 



1. Oxygen. Sodium, 



2. Metalloids. Potassium, 

 Sulphur, Molybdena, 

 Nitric, Tungsten, 

 Muriatic Radical, Antimony, 

 Boron, Tellurium, 

 Carbon, Silicium, 

 Hydrogen. Columbium, 



3. Metals. Titanium, 

 Arsenic, Zirconium, 

 Chrome, Osmium, 

 Uranium, Bismuth, 

 Zinc, Iridium, 

 Iron, Platinum, 

 Manganese, Gold, 

 Cerium, Rhodium, 

 Yttrium, Palladium, 

 Glaucinium, Mercury, 

 Aluminum, Silver, 

 Magnesium, Lead, 

 Calcium, Tin, 

 Strontium, Nickel, 

 Barium, Copper. 



Each of these bodies may constitute a mineralogical 

 Family, composed of the simple body, and all its com- 

 binations with other bodies which are electro-negative 

 with respect to it ; that is, with those which, except 

 in a few cases, stand above it in the preceding table. 

 The families are divided into orders, according to the 

 different electro-negative bodies with which the 

 electro-positive is combined. 



MINNOW (Leuciscus phoxinus). A genus of 

 soft-finned fishes with abdominal fins, belonging to 

 the carp family, or the first into which Cuvier divides 

 the soft-finned orders. The minnow is of small size, 

 rarely exceeding three inches in length, and seldom 

 measuring as much. It is in fact the smallest of the 

 family, and we believe there is only one known spe- 

 cies of the genus. Minnows are exceedingly abun- 

 dant in all the clear running brooks and streams of 

 every part of England, and of the temperate parts of 

 the continent. They do not occur in the larger rivers, 

 except in little eddies of shallow water, where they 

 can pass their time undisturbed by the violence of 

 the current. They are exceedingly fertile, and though 

 they form no inconsiderable portion of the food of 

 every larger fish which inhabits or visits the same 

 waters, they still remain the most abundant of the 

 whole ; and in the fine clear trouting streams, how- 

 ever abundant trout may be, there are probably ten 

 thousand minnows in the shallows near the banks for 

 every trout which is in the pools or stronger currents. 

 When the water becomes swollen by a heavy fall of 

 rain, the minnows are, so to express it, broken loose 

 from their moorings, and vast numbers of them are at 

 the mercy of the stream, against which their light 

 weight and small strength are but ill able to contend. 

 It is then that trout and pike and other fishes, which 

 can head the water with more security and power, 

 are on the alert and fare sumptuously on the agitated 

 and defenceless minnows. The angler takes advan- 

 tage of this, and either places a minnow on his hook, 

 so bent as that its body may wriggle as it is drawn 

 along, and show the bright lustre of the scales in 

 various points of view, or he has an artificial form of 

 a minnow prepared, of the same form as the real one, 

 and used in the same manner. The real minnow is 



NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



by far the better bait for trout, and also for large 

 perch, and for salmon ; and if the water is of the 

 proper height and colour, and the angler understands 

 it, and can handle his tackle well, finer fish may be 

 obtained by this than by any other method of rod 

 and line fishing. They can also be landed with 

 greater certainty and in less time, inasmuch as a 

 stronger line may be used than in fly-fishing, or in 

 fishing with the smaller species of bait. The artificial 

 minnow is better adapted for fishing for pike, inas- 

 much as the pike are more voracious than the fishes 

 which have been mentioned, and more readily bite at 

 any substance which is moving in the water, without 

 any great nicety as to what may be its nature. 



The minnows themselves are voracious enough in 

 their little way ; and, though they are incapable of 

 swallowing a live fish of any considerable size, they 

 nibble away at a dead one. The}' are by no means 

 alarmed or even disturbed at the presence of man ; 

 and in the clear little pools of the streams of pure 

 water, the boys sometimes amuse themselves with 

 what they call making " minnin tulips." [It is to be 

 understood that the words minnow and minnin have 

 exactly the same meaning, and appear to have been 

 derived from the Latin minimus, the smallest.] The 

 tulip is made in this way a crumb of bread or piece 

 of worm is dropped into the water, usually tied to a 

 small pebble with a bit of thread, in order that it 

 may sink the more rapidly and be the less easily 

 removed. The minnows, which are sporting about 

 through the water, crowd to the descending substance 

 from all sides, and when it reaches the bottom there 

 are generally as many heads in contact with it as 

 can be wedged round, the axis of the fishes being 

 inclined upwards toward the tails, and thus the whole 

 bearing some resemblance to the petals of a flower, 

 though certainly not much to those of a tulip. A 

 small metal button which is bright and shining will 

 produce a similar assemblage, but a tulip collected 

 by such an object is a very fading flower. 



The capture of minnows is an equally easy matter. 

 A crooked pin at the end of a bit of thread fastened 

 to a small twig, and baited with a little bit of earth- 

 worm, furnishes ample tackle for the youthful angler; 

 and when there is little stirring in the waters, the pin 

 itself will sometimes do without any bait. There 

 are few places in which minnows are taken for any 

 other purpose than as bait for other fishes, or as a 

 first attempt in angling to the boys ; but where they 

 can be taken in sufficient quantity by means of a 

 small meshed casting net, which can be readily done 

 in some places, they are said to be very delicious, 

 though the dressing of a single minnow, or even a 

 dozen or two, would be a most unprofitable waste of 

 the culinary art. In the matter of fishes as an article 

 of food, our judgment is in some danger of being 

 carried away by mere size ; and yet of fishes of the 

 same genus or the same family the small species, 

 when of equal age and in equal condition, are invari- 

 ably more finely flavoured than the larjre ones. 



The minnow, being a delicate little fish, spawns in 

 the warm season ; the operation is soon over, and the 

 young are alive in the course of not more than a 

 week from the time of their being deposited in the 

 fine gravel, in shallow water, and freely exposed to 

 the sun, which is their usual nidus. It is said that 

 the female minnows are diandrious, or always attended 

 by two males when depositing the spawn ; and it is 

 probable that other fresh water fishes have the same 

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