BARBEL AND BREAM. 25 I 



will be found until the spring ; and in these quiet deeps 

 and eddies they are to be caught, if anywhere, during 

 the winter months. At this period, however, especially 

 if the weather is very cold, it is of comparatively little 

 use to fish for Barbel, as they lie in a sort of semi- 

 torpid condition, and refuse to move. So inanimate 

 are they, that the fishermen not unfrequently provide 

 themselves with hoop landing-nets, which they place 

 near the fish, and with a pole literally push them in ; and 

 I have known shoals to collect under the shelter of a 

 sunken punt, or other tidal obstruction, lying so closely 

 one over the other as to present the appearance of a 

 solid mass. 



The Bream. 



There are two species of Bream which are more or 

 less generally scattered throughout the waters of Great 

 Britain, — the common, or Carp Bream {abramis bramd)y 

 and the White Bream, or Bream-flat {abramis blicca) 

 The latter I have caught occasionally, but it is a mise- 

 rable, bony fi.sh, rarely exceeding one pound in weight, 

 and almost as worthless for angling as for eating. In 

 colour it is silvery, or dusky, instead of golden, but the 

 most certain distinction is to be found in the teeth, 

 situated in the throat, and which in the Bream-flat are 

 placed in two rows on each side, numbering three 

 and five respectively, whilst those of the Carp Bream 

 are placed in one row only on each side, numbering five. 

 In order to examine the teeth properly the jawbone 



