INTRODUCTOEY EEMAEKS. 9 



It is not absolutely necessary that an angler should be a 

 naturalist, but still the more he knows of fish, and the more 

 he studies their natural history, the more pleasure he will 

 get out of his intercourse with the river side. He will find 

 himself amply rewarded for his trouble in acquiring this 

 knowledge, and his studies will show him that fish are 

 among the most interesting of all the classes of the animal 

 world. 



Fish belong to the great vertebrate division of the animal 

 kingdom, and comprise one of its classes. Some naturalists 

 divide the vertebrate division into six, while others divide it 

 into nine, or even more classes. Our business just now, 

 however, lies with one of these classes, viz. fish ; and this 

 has been divided and subdivided into numerous orders and 

 sub-orders, families and sub-families. Various, too, have 

 been the principles on which fish have been divided and 

 subdivided, some dividing them according to their bones and 

 some according to their scales, viz. flat-scaled, polished- scaled, 

 tooth-scaled, and circular-scaled ; but it is only in the two 

 last that we are particularly interested just now, for to the 

 tooth-scaled class belong the pike, the perch, and the ruff; 

 while to the circular-scaled belong the chub, the barbel, the 

 carp, the roach, the dace, &c., &c. It is also said that the 

 age of fish may be ascertained from their scales when exa- 

 mined under a powerful microscope. Many valuable charac- 

 teristics of fish may also be ascertained from the formation 

 and disposition of their teeth, which are respectively situated 

 upon the jaws, the palate, the tongue, and in the throat, and 

 constructed for prehension, cutting, or crushing, thus indi- 

 cating the character of food mostly taken by the several 

 species. 



Of the different fish that are treated of in this little book, 

 it will be sufficient to divide them into two orders, viz. 

 "spiny or prickly-finned," and " soft- finned " fish; to the 

 former belong the perch and the ruff, and to the latter belong 

 the chub, the carp, the roach, &c., &c. Under these two 

 orders we must range the respective "families" of fish; 

 there are many, but only three concern us here, namely, the 

 Percidas family, to which belong the perch and the ruff; 



