GREAT LOCHE. 3 



parts of Europe as an article of diet. It is sup- 

 posed to live principally on aquatic insects, 

 worms, &c. In Germany it is observed to spawn 

 iii the month of March, and is a very prolific 

 animal *. 



GREAT LOCHE. 



Cobitis Fossilis. C.fusco-jlavescens, striis longitudinalilus nigri- 

 cantibus, cirris octo, spinet utrinqiie Sttprooculari. 



Yellow-brown Loche, with longitudinal blackish stripes, eight 

 beards, and a spine above each eye. 



Cobitis fossilis cirris octo, spina supraoculari. Lin. Syst, Nat, 

 p. 5OO. Block, c. 3 1./. I. 



THIS species is the largest of the genus, and is 

 a native of Germany and other midland parts of 

 Europe, inhabiting large lak^s and marshes. It 

 arrives at the length of eight, ten, or even some- 

 times fifteen inches, and is of a dull yellowish-brown, 

 colour, marked above by several longitudinal, deep- 

 brown or blackish stripes from head to tail: the 

 body is covered with very small and tender scales. 

 This species conceals itself during the winter, and 

 even at other times when' the marshes it inhabits 

 begin to grow dry, at some distance beneath the 

 surface of the mud, out of which it is occasionally 

 dug, and has in consequence been erroneously 

 represented by some authors as capable of living ia 

 the ground in the manner of the slow-worm. On 



* This did not escape the observation of Shakespeare, 



