FISHES. 



£_ i 



Whiting. 



Grayling 



• Father Lasher. 



Gold Fish. 



Tench. 



Shad. 



The Grayling delights in clear, rapid streams, which it ascends, in early spring, to spawn, whence, at the 

 approach of winter, it returns to the sea. It is caught with a fly, to which it rises readily. It is from ten 

 to eighteen inches long, of a silvery-grey color, and inhabits Europe and Siberia. The Laplanders use its 

 entrails, instead of rennet, to make cheese of reindeer's milk. 



The Whiting is of slender form, and rarely over a foot long. They are plentiful on the English coasts, 

 and are reckoned the lightest and wholesomest of fish, being often prescribed to dyspeptics. They are in 

 prime condition during spring and summer. They live at the bottom of the sea, feeding on little crabs, 

 worms, and young fish, and are usually caught with ground lines. 



The Father Lasher frequents the deep sea, though seeking its prey near the surface. On the English 

 coasts, these fish are about nine inches long; but on the Greenland coasts, they are said to measure six 

 feet. The head is large, and armed with stout spines, and the body, thick at the neck, decreases in size 

 towards the tail. - They are rapid swimmers, and prey especially on blennies, codlings, and herrings. They 

 are named from the violent lashing of their tails, when caught and cast on the sand. 



The Tench, in its habits, resembles the Carp, and is even more sluggish than the latter. It especially 

 loves the muddy banks of ponds, where the weeds grow thickly. It is more tenacious of life than even 

 the Carp. 



The Gold Fish is a native of China, and a river fish, though often there, as here, kept in vessels within 

 doors for ornament. It was domesticated in England, about 1691, and breeds freely in ponds. When kept 

 in glass vessels, it becomes partially tame, and apparently knows the voice of its accustomed feeder. 



The Shad is about eighteen inches long, is greenish-black above, and silvery on the sides and belly. It 

 goes up the rivers, in May, to spawn. It is very voracious, and herrings three inches long are sometimes 

 found in its stomach. Its flesh is esteemed a great delicacy. 



The body of the Wolf fish is roundish and slender; the head large and blunt; the fore-teeth, above and 

 below, coiical ; the grinding teeth and those in the palate round ; and the fin covering the gill has six 

 rays. It is from three to seven feet long ; spawns on sea-plants, in May or June ; and lives chiefly on 

 shell-fish. 



The S icking Fish has a body of nearly wedge-like shape. Its head is broader than its body ; the fin 

 covering the gill has ten rays ; and it has an oval breastplate streaked in the form of a ladder and toothed. 



The Chietodon, or Catfish, has an oblong body, a small head, slender and bending teeth, five or six 

 spines on the fin covering the gills, and a fin on the back covered with scales. 



