BARBUS VULGARIS. 117 



colour. The spawning period varies with atmospheric conditions. Bloch 

 mentions that the eggs are of the size and colour of millet seed, and that the 

 ova do not exceed eight thousand in a full-sized fish. The eggs are deposited 

 on gravel, and at the breeding season the fish form troops of about a hundred, 

 moving one behind the other. The old females swim in front, followed by 

 the old males, with the young males bringing up the rear. The roe is in 

 most places reputed poisonous, and is always carefully removed before the 

 fish is cooked ; yet Bloch records that it was eaten by himself and his family 

 without unpleasant results. It is commonly reputed to produce effects like those 

 of Asiatic cholera. According to Dr. Giinther the males develop more rapidly 

 than the females, and when only six or seven inches long are seen pursuing the 

 females. 



The flesh is white. It is valued in some* countries, but not in others. In 

 England Barbel were formerly eaten and valued. Mr. W. S. Mitchell records 

 that at the installation of the Archbishop of York, in the sixth year of King 

 Edward the Fourth, Barbel appeared in the dinner feast in the second course. 

 Holinshed's " Chronicle " mentions Barbel as one of the fishes whose 

 preservation is provided for by law; and in 1650 T. Venner writes that the 

 Barbel is ' ' of very pleasant taste, of good nourishment, but somewhat muddy ; 

 the greater excel the lesser for meat, because their superfluous moisture is 

 amended by age." 



At the present day there is a prejudice against the fish, and Dr. Badham 

 declares that the Thames angler, having hauled a noble Barbel from the water, 

 weighed, registered, and frescoed his full-length portrait on the walls of the inn, 

 gives the carcase to the landlord's cat. But he also states that simply 

 boiled in salt and water, and eaten cold with a squeeze of lemon-juice, the 

 Barbel will be found by no means despicable fare. Blanchard, who excuses 

 himself from pronouncing any personal opinion, as having no taste in the 

 matter of fish, reminds us how often the sign " Aux trois Barbeaux " invites 

 the traveller on the banks of the Loire. And in Italy the prejudice of the 

 Milanese against Barbel may be balanced against the excellent reputation of 

 the fish in Rome. Heckel and Kner recommend that Barbel should be 

 kept for a few days in fresh spring water before being eaten, when their flesh 

 will be found fairly well flavoured. 



The species is stated by Graells to occur in Spain. In Russia it is found 

 in the rivers flowing into the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. 



