Jfi;> TIIK FKKSII-WATKK FISHES OF EUROPE. 



shallow water, but is found in rivers and lakes. It swims quickly and often 

 skims over the surface. It lives on worms, insects, and vegetable substances ; 

 in some waters being almost entirely a vegetable feeder, but Giinther remarks 

 that where animal food is abundant the fisb are better nourished. Its Hesh, 

 however, is not valued for food, though in season from October to January. 

 Heckel and Kner mention that in Upper Austria, according to old custom, 

 any one is at liberty to catch it from four to five o'clock in the evening, between 

 Ascension day and St. John the Baptist's day. 



The Dace commences to spawn when the warm weather begins, as early as 

 March in Germany, but usually in May and June in England. The eggs are 

 numerous and deposited on stones, where they are preyed upon by many 

 enemies, so that the species is nowhere very plentiful. Its habit is gregarious, 

 and the fish commonly swim in shoals. 



The young remain for a time in the stagnant or tranquil water in which 

 they are hatched, and as they increase in size become more adventurous, and 

 move to rapid parts of the stream. Yarrell mentions that it is often taken by 

 fly-fishers when fishing for Trout. It is tenacious of life, and valued as bait 

 for Pike; in Germany it is used as bait for Salmon. Buckland records that 

 the late Duke of Wellington invented an apparatus of india-rubber bands by 

 which the Dace is held secure to the hook. The length rarely exceeds eight 

 to ten inches; and may reach a weight of one pound. It is found in most of 

 the large rivers of England, but is not recorded from Scotland or Ireland. 



The best known variety in England is the Graining, for which Yarrell used 

 the name Leuciscus lancastriensis ; it is distinguished by a smaller head, which 

 is one-sixth of the length, while the depth is one-fifth of the length. The 

 nose is rounder ; the scales are rather larger than those of the Dace, with a 

 greater vei'tical diameter, and fewer radiating rays. The fins are a little 

 longer, and the upper parts of the body are a pale drab, tinged with bluish-red, 

 and sharply defined from the paler-coloured lower part of the body. All the 

 fins are pale yellowish-white. 



In France the varieties which have been distinguished are more numerous. 

 Blanchard describes a fish which has the aspect and colour of a Roach, found 

 in the lake Mariscot, near Biarritz, which in the pharyngeal teeth and rays of 

 the dorsal fin more resembles the Dace. The body is more compressed than in 

 typical Dace, and the back higher. This variety is named Leuciscns bearnensis, 

 Blanchard. Another variety, found in the Garonne, distinguished by 

 Valenciennes as L. bnrdigalensis, has the head less obtuse and more elongated 

 than in the common Dace. The dorsal fin is black, and the fins of the lower 

 part of the body are orange at the base. 



In Switzerland and North Germany the varieties merge in each other, so 



