306 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



fishes. These eggs are vivified, in warm weather, between the 

 ninth and fifteenth day. 



The spawners, so soon as they have recovered a little 

 strength, make their way into the swiftest stream they can find, 

 such as rivers, mill-tails, &c., to scour and brace themselves, 

 beginning to get into condition again in a few weeks, and being 

 in the best season for the angler until September and October, 

 when the frosty nights drive them from the streams and shallows 

 into deeper waters. Here they will be found until the spring ; 

 and in these quiet deeps and eddies they are to be caught, if 

 anywhere, during the winter months. At this period, howevtr, 

 especially if the weather is very cold, it is of comparatively 

 little use to fish for them, as they lie in a sort of semi-torpid 

 condition and refuse to move. So inanimate are they, that the 

 fishermen not unfrequenlly provide themselves with hoop-land- 

 ing nets, which they place near the barbel, and with a pole 

 literally push them in. Shoals sometimes collect under the 

 shelter, of a sunken punt or other tidal obstruction, lying 

 one over the other as closely as they can pack, and when 

 thus congregated, they are often taken by being ' hooked 

 foul.' 



The principal Characteristics of the Barbel are : Mouth, 

 toothless ; throat teeth in three rows on each side, the rows 

 numbering two, three, and five respectively. Body, elongated. 

 Length of head compared with total length of fish as i to 5. 

 Depth of body less than length of head. Head, elongated, 

 wedge-shaped ; upper half of jaw much the longer. Upper 

 lip, circular and fleshy. One pair of barbels at the front of the 

 nose, and a single one at the end of upper lip on each side. 

 Third ray of back fin largest and strongest, toothed on its 

 hinder surface. Tail deeply forked at the end. Colour : 

 general hue of upper part of the head and body, greenish- 

 brown, becoming yellowish-green on sides ; cheeks, gill-covers, 

 golden-bronze ; belly and throat, silver-white ; back fin, olive- 

 brown ; margins of tail, pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, pale 

 red, or fleshy-pink, gradually diminishing in tone nearly to base 



