

THE TENCH. 45 



my actual observation. It is pretty common in the south- 

 ern and more midland portion of Scandinavia, but its limits 

 to the northward do not appear to be very well ascertained. 

 It is found likewise in parts of the eastern Skargard. 



Owing to its dark and greasy appearance, it has several 

 nicknames, as for instance, " Skomakare," or shoemaker, 

 &c. Formerly, when the belief was general that he had 

 power to cure diseases both in men and animals, he was 

 called the " fishes' doctor," a designation that he still retains 

 amongst the peasantry in some places. 



In Sweden the spawning season with this fish is about 

 June. It is very prolific. Bloch found two hundred and 

 ninety-seven thousand eggs in a female weighing only three- 

 quarters of a pound. 



The tench would not appear to attain to any considerable 

 size in Scandinavia. Ekstrom tells us the largest he ever 

 saw did not exceed nineteen inches in length; and Kroyer 

 says that he has not met with it of greater weight than four 

 or five pounds. 



The Yellow Bream (Braxen, Sw. ; C. Brama, Linn.) was 

 abundant with us, as well in the Wenern as the Goth a. 

 We saw but little of it in the river, however, in conse- 

 quence, of its keeping to the still deep pools, to which we 

 had not often occasion to resort. This fish is found in 

 almost all the larger of the Scandinavian waters, from Scania 

 to near the Polar Circle, but most plentifully in the more 

 central and southern parts of the peninsula. It is also an 

 inhabitant of the eastern Skargard ; but those in salt water 

 are neither so large nor so fat as those in fresh water. 



The yellow bream, as with several others of the Cyprini, 

 undergo great changes of colour and form, determined by 



