290 THE COMPLETE ANttLER. PART I. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Of ROACH and DACE, and how tojishfor them; and 

 of Cadis. 



VENATOR. 



GOOD master ! as we go now towards London, be 

 still so courteous as to give me more instructions ; for I 

 have several boxes iji my memory, in which I will 

 keep them all very safe, there shall not one of them be 

 lost. 



Pise. Well, scholar ! that I will : and I will hide 

 nothing from you that I can remember, and can think 

 may help you forward towards a perfection in this art. 

 And because we have so much time, and I have said so 

 little of Roach and Dace, I will give you some direc- 

 tions concerning them. 



Some say the Roach is so called, from rutilus, 

 which, they say, signifies red fins. He is a fish of no 

 great reputation, for his dainty taste ; and his spawn is 

 accounted much better than any other part of him. 

 And you may take notice, That as the Carp is account- 

 ed the water-fox, for his cunning; so the Roach is 

 accounted the water-sheep, for his simplicity or fool- 

 ishness. It is noted, that the Roach and Dace recover 

 strength, and grow in season, in a fortnight after 

 spawning ; the Barbel and Chub, in a month ; the 

 Trout, in four months, and the Salmon, in the like 

 time, if he gets into the sea, and, after, into fresh 

 water. 



Roaches be accounted much better in the river than 

 in a pond, though ponds usually breed the biggest. 

 But there is a kind of bastard small Roach, that breeds 

 in ponds, with a very forked tail, and of a very small 

 size ; which , some say, is bred by the Bream and right 

 Roach -, and some ponds are stored with these beyond 



