3.10 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



bly informed, may be sustained for several weeks, apart from 

 any direct communication with its native element, a mere 

 sprinkling thereof being from time to time administered. Rest- 

 ing on wet moss, and suspended in net-work in a cool cellar, 

 this fish (Cyprinus carpio\ it appears, is not only capable of 

 retaining life, and of making use, for that purpose, of its respira- 

 tory organs, but will also accept of nourishment in the shape of 

 bread soaked in sweet milk, under such circumstances. 



The tench, also, a fish belonging to the same family, is inde- 

 pendent of those delicate attentions which are required by trout 

 or salmon during the process of transplantation. Loosely placed 

 among wet, sedgy grass, in a basket made of coarse wicker- 

 ware, through the interstices of which the air circulates freely, 

 specimens of it may be conveyed by a train moving at the rate 

 of twenty or twenty-five miles in the hour, from London to 

 Inverness, or any corresponding distance, without injury to their 

 vital functions, the precaution being observed every now and 

 then to sprinkle fresh water over them and keep the package 

 cool. 



In the case of the minnow (Leusciscus phoxinus], another of 

 the same family, which is made use of to such an extent as a 

 spinning-lure by the angler, its capability of retaining life when 

 in confinement is weH known. Within the area of a common 

 soda-water bottle, I have frequently kept twenty and upwards of 

 moderate-sized minnows for a period varying from three to nine 

 hours, changing the water, according to the prevailing tempera- 

 ture of the day, about once in the hour, on the average. 



When salmon-fishing in frosty weather, or when the river is 

 low, I sometimes resort to the minnow as a more sure persuader 

 than the artificial fly ; and usually, on such occasions, provide 

 myself with a dozen large-sized specimens, more or less, which, 

 although taken with the hook, I have known to exist for the 

 space of eight hours, without showing any symptoms of exhaus- 



