CHAP. XVIII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. SI I 



the belly; two, on the back ; one, below the vent : and 

 the fin of his tail, is round. Nature hath painted the 

 body of this fish with whitish, blackish, brownish spots. 

 They be, usually, full of eggs or spawn, all thesuramer, 

 I mean the females; and those eggs swell their vents 

 almost into the form of a dug. They begin to spawn 

 about April; and, as I told you, spawn several months 

 in the summer. And * in the winter, the Minnow, 

 and Loach, and Bull-head dwell in the mud, and as 

 the Eel doth ; or, we know not where, no more than 

 we know where the cuckow and swallow, and other 

 half-year birds, which first appear to us in April, 

 spend their six cold, winter, melancholy months. 

 This 



BKJUL-HE.M5 



* Since Walton wrote, there has been brought into England, from 

 Germany, a species of small fish, resembling Carp in shape and colour, 

 called Crucians: with which, many ponds are now plentifully stocked. 



There has also been lately brought hither from China, those beautiful 

 creatures Gold and Silver f'uh ; the first are of an orange-colour, with 

 very shining scales, and finely variegated with black and dark brown; 

 the Silver Fish are of the colour of Silver tissue, with scarlet fins, with 

 which colour they are curiously marked in several parts of the body. 



These fish are usually kept in ponds, basins, and small reservoirs of 

 water ; to which they are a delightful ornament. And it is now a very 

 common practice to keep them in a large glass vessel like a punch bowl, 



