36 THE SCIENTIFIC ANGLER. 



bream, in common with, most fish of like order, are to 

 be observed playfully gambolling and turning over, so 

 that their most frequent haunts are easily discernible 

 to the early riser. When a bream suddenly descends 

 from near the surface of the water, unlike any other 

 fish, it causes bubbles to appear upon the water im- 

 mediately above it. This must be owing to its peculiar 

 formation. It probably emits a certain portion of oxygen 

 by the exertion. The teeth of the bream, as with other 

 aquatic vegetarians, are in the throat, there being, in 

 the case of the common bream, a series of five upon 

 each bone, a double complement of these being possessed 

 by the white variety. Bream spawn in July. They 

 always frequent the deepest parts of the water they in- 

 habit, and are fond of weedy quarters. About the mid- 

 dle of October they are in the hight of condition. It 

 is not in every likely-looking place upon a river known 

 to contain bream that they are found. They are rather 

 migratory as well as gregarious, and are given to roam, 

 changing their haunts, for no apparent reason, for an 

 indefinite period. These fish seldom attain more than 

 six or seven pounds weight, though specimens are oc- 

 casionally taken scaling considerably more. 



ROACH* (Leuciscusrutilus), are also gregarious, con- 

 gregating and swimming together in shoals. They are 

 generally numerous at the lower portions of trout streams, 

 in water from three to five feet in depth, and of very 

 moderate velocity. They feed upon aquatic insects, 

 worms, the larvae of flies, and also on certain vegetable 



* The names, Roach, Dace, and Chub are inextricably mixed in the 

 popular nomenclature of fishes in this country. All of them are applied 

 indiscriminately to one and the same fish. I am enabled, however, to 

 state from personal knowledge that the roach of the Atlantic States is 

 almost a counterpart of its English congener, in physical outline, at 

 least so far as may be judged by examinations of several exquisite and 

 accurate drawings of the latter fish. 



