DACE AND CHUB. 263 



expression of bewilderment as he endeavoured to iden- 

 tify the species of his " captive" by a critical comparison 

 of the relative measurements of the head, body, and fins, 

 according to the ichthyological formulary given in the 

 pages of that scientific, but to the uninitiated, somewhat 

 perplexing volume. Was it a small Chub or a large Dace 

 that he had caught ? This was the problem. I forget 

 whether he succeeded at last in solving it ; but if the 

 angler will bear in mind the following simple distin- 

 guishing characteristic he need never be in a similar 

 dilemma : — T/ie ventral (or belly) fins of the Dace are 

 akvays greenish with a slight tinge of red, whilst the anal 

 fin has no red about it whatever; in the Chnb both these 

 fins are of a brilliant pi^ik colour. 



As the Chub grows larger, the chocolate brown, 

 almost black, of its tail-fin becomes more marked, 

 and the whole fish rapidly assumes a bronzed or golden 

 appearance, in place of the prevailing silvery tint 

 which the Dace retains in its original brilliancy to the 

 last. 



The Dace is indeed a bright, graceful fish, glancing 

 about in the clear quiet streams with which the southern 

 counties of England especially abound, and which are 

 too often barren of Trout or Salmon. Moreover, it is 

 in full season in October, November, December, and 

 January, when the latter fish are spawning or preparing 

 for the process, and thus a red-lettered day's sport is not 

 imfrequently to be obtained, which would otherwise have 



