HYBRIDS 



SOME of our writers have been inclined to question whether 

 hybrids, i.e., crossings between fish of different species often 

 occur in Nature. German ichthyologists recognize them as being 

 of quite common occurrence. The best accoimt of them, in English, 

 which I know, is that in Mr G. Tate Regan's invaluable little 

 work, "British Freshwater Fishes" (London, Methuen); in his 

 chapter on this subject he refers to, and illustrates, hybrid salmon x trout; 

 bleak x dace ; bleak x roach ; bleak x rudd ; bleak x white bream ; bream x 

 roach; bream x rudd; carp x crucian carp; perch x ruffe; roach x rudd; 

 white bream X roach; white bream x rudd. The late Mr Thomas Andrews, 

 of Guildford, crossed our trout (S. fario) with the American brook-trout 

 (S. fontinalis), the product being an ugly fish with zebra markings. The 

 handsomest hybrid I have seen among the coarse fish is that between 

 roach and rudd from a good water. 



264 



