32 THE COMMON RUFFE. 



situated on an inlet of the Wenern, as much as sixty 

 lispund, or ahout twelve hundred pounds, have heen caught 

 of a morning during the spawning season ; and in the course 

 of the whole season, five hundred lispund, or ten thousand 

 pounds. As a consequence of this abundance, the town of 

 Wenersborg was amply supplied with this fish. They were 

 brought in cart-loads, and usually sold at one shilling the 

 lispund, or about a halfpenny of our money per pound. 



The Common Ruffe, or Pope (Gers. Sw. ; Acerina vul- 

 garis, Cuv.), was abundant with us as well as over nearly 

 the whole of Scandinavia. It is said to be more plentiful, 

 however, in the northern and central portions of the peninsula, 

 than in the more southern. It is also found in the eastern 

 Skargard, but, so far as I am aware, not in the western. 



This fish, according to the Swedish naturalists, prefers 

 slow running streams that are clear, and with bottoms of 

 clay or sand; for though met with in such as have muddy 

 bottoms, he does not seem to thrive. In the spring he seeks 

 the shallows, but towards autumn falls back into the deeps, 

 where he passes the winter. He keeps near the bottom, and 

 is seldom seen even in mid-water. He is solitary in his 

 habits; the greater part of the year he passes alone, and 

 it is only during the spawning season that he is seen 

 in shoals. In disposition he is apparently sluggish, and 

 seems rather to wait for his prey than to seek it. When 

 he does move from his station, it is not by a continuous 

 progressive motion, but by short and rapid shoots. It is 

 not incapability, however, that causes this seeming apathy ; 

 for when alarmed, his movements in the water are so quick 

 as to have given rise to the saying, " qvick som en gers," 

 that is, agile as a ruffe. 



