138 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



experiment led me to believe that the colouring matter is exceedingly 

 sensitive. The experiment recorded is worthy a trial, if only for the sake 

 of the interesting and rapid changes shown. 



The throat teeth of this little fish number usually two and four on each 

 side, and are in two rows, of course. The fins rays : are Dorsal nine, pec- 

 toral sixteen, ventral eight, anal nine, caudal nineteen, sometimes varying. 



The adult fish in winter time are exceedingly gregarious. They are 

 so in a lesser degree in summer, but in the latter part of the year con- 

 gregate in quantities, as if seeking warmth from contiguity. I have 

 thrown a cast net over from twenty to thirty dozens in a space hardly 

 exceeding the size of a silk hat. The curiosity of the little fish also is 

 very strongly developed, and it is not a rare sight to see half a dozen 

 diminutive minnows closely inspecting a large pike as he lies asleep or 

 torpid, swimming round and round, as the pilot fish is said to do in con- 

 nection with the salt-water shark. The chief enemies of the young fry 

 are the various larvge of the ephemera and coleoptera, and as soon as they 

 are hatched they, possibly having a forewarning of their adversaries, 

 seek the higher strata of water, where they are comparatively free from 

 such voracious destroyers. Mr. Pennell says they bury themselves in the 

 gravel to get away from the aforesaid larvae ; as, however, I know this not 

 to be the case, it is scarcely worth while to raise doubts as to its cause, on 

 the ground that the little fish would in the gravel meet what it is to their 

 personal interest to avoid. 



Before leaving the minnow I may be allowed to say that the tiny fish 

 are little less delicate and toothsome than whitebait if cooked in the same 

 way. Izaak Walton refers to their demolition in this way by saying that 

 they make excellent "minnow tanzies," and gives directions for so pre- 

 paring them. They are to " be well washed in salt, and their heads 

 and tails cut off and guts taken out." They are thereafter to be " fried 

 with yolk of eggs, the flowers of cowslips and of primroses, and a little 

 tanzy ; thus used they make a dainty dish of meat." 



I suppose, although I profess to instruct novices in the " gentle craft," 

 I shall not be called upon to teach the angler how to catch minnows, except 

 by trapping. For particulars how to do this see previous chapter. 



