LEUCISCUS ORFUS. 141 



found all over European Russia, as far north as Petchora, but is absent from 

 the Caucasus. It is abundant in the middle and southern parts of Scandinavia, 

 is found in all the rivers of Central Europe, and in the Danube and its tribu- 

 taries. It is met with in Belgium and the eastern part of France. 



There is a variety of this fish known as the Golden Ide, the Orfe, or Gold 

 Nerfling; the L. or/us of Linn*us. This fish is, like the Golden Tench or 

 Golden Carp, a sort of Albino variety of the common type, for the Orfe and 

 Ide agree in all the essentials of structure. The proportions, the number of 

 rays, and number of scales are the same. 



In magnificence of colour it is scarcely inferior to the Gold Fish, while its 

 vermilion tint is more durable ; and specimens kept many years in spirit pre- 

 serve their original colour perfectly. The back and sides are vermilion or 

 orange-red. The belly is silvery. A broad indistinct band of violet tint runs 

 longitudinally to the tail, and divides the deep red of the back from the pale 

 tint of the abdomen. All fins are red at the base and white at the points. 

 The terminal rays of the caudal fin and the first rays of all the other fins 

 are white. The iris is golden-red, with a black pupil. In Austria this variety 

 is chiefly found as a cultivated fish, fine examples being preserved in the Impe- 

 rial ponds at Laxemburg Castle, near Vienna, and in preserves at Munich, and 

 Diinkelsbuhl. According to Bloch, the Orfe has forty-five vertebra and 

 twenty-two pairs of ribs, but the Gangling is said to have only forty-one 

 vertebrae and fifteen pairs of ribs. 



Dr. Giinther gives the number of vertebras for the species at forty-seven, 

 twenty-six in the body, and twenty-one in the tail. 



A variety of the Orfe, originally brought from the Tyrol, is kept in various 

 ornamental waters in Austria, and was regarded by Heckel and Kner as a 

 species, which they named L. miniatus. The head is larger and longer, the 

 back of a paler red, the sides devoid of the median violet band, the abdomen 

 reddish, while the sides are marked with blackish transverse bands, which 

 extend over the trunk and head. It has about the same weight and size as 

 the Orfe. 



Another variety of Leuciscus idus is distinguished by Dr. Giinther under 

 the name of L. lapponicus. It is known from the river Muonio, a tributary 

 of the Tornea, forming the frontier between Sweden and Lapland, where it 

 reaches a length of seven or eight inches. The height of the body is about 

 one-third of the total length of the fish, exclusive of the caudal fin, and 

 the origin of the dorsal fin is nearly vertical over the region of the 

 ventral fin. 



Leuciscus borysthenicns (Kessler) has the fin formula D. 11, A. 11 12, 

 V, 9, with thirty-seven or thirty-eight scales in the lateral line. There are 



