LETJCISCUS PHOXINUS. 177 



lustre. The angles of the mouth are carmine; the throat is black. The 

 breast and pectoral fin are red, and there is usually a blackish spot at the base 

 of the caudal. Sometimes the black line down the side is broken into a line of 

 spots. The dorsal fin is banded with black or dark-grey ; the pectoral, ventral, 

 and anal often have a rose tint at the base. The iris is silvery but clouded 

 with gold. At spawning-time many males become sooty-black, with the 

 exception of the fins, the operculum, and abdomen, which are spotted with 

 black; the females are always paler. Both sexes develop sharp or pointed 

 warty tubercles, which are characteristic of the 'genus. After spawning the 

 colours become pale, and after death they vanish. The males are rather shorter 

 than the females, and have the frontal profile more arched, while the females 

 have the dorsal fin placed farther back than in the males. In the same brood 

 the males would measure from two to three inches, while the females would 

 be commonly three and a half to four inches. But in some localities circum- 

 stances seem to favour their growth, so that giant fish are found. One such 

 from Poprad in Hungary measured five inches, and specimens have been 

 recorded, in the Lake district of England, fully seven inches long. The eggs 

 even in large females are exceedingly small, some measuring a millimetre and a 

 quarter in diameter ; they number 700 to 1000. Spawning usually occurs 

 in May and June, but they have been taken in Central Europe in April 

 in full bridal colouring when snow was on the ground. The young usually 

 appear in twelve to fifteen days, but the period varies with temperature. They 

 increase very rapidly in number, but the individual growth is slow ; repro- 

 duction does not take place till the third or fourth year. They are sometimes 

 bred artificially as food for Trout and Salmon. Being caught in a net, the 

 female is taken in one hand, and the male in the other; with slight pressure 

 the eggs and milt are deposited, and the .water is then stirred with a feather. 

 The fecundated eggs are placed in perforated boxes in a running stream. 

 When deposited naturally the eggs are found adhering to the interstices of 

 stones, and sometimes in masses measuring as much as eight inches long by two 

 inches broad. 



The accessory gills are comb-shaped. The supra-orbital bone is very large, 

 forming the upper border of the orbit. There are twenty-one vertebrae in the 

 thorax and nineteen in the tail, and fifteen to sixteen pairs of ribs. The hinder 

 part of the swim-bladder is rounded, and twice as long as the fore part, but in 

 females it is thin and pointed. The lining membrane of the visceral cavity 

 is somewhat clouded with black pigment. Fig. 99 shows the pharyngeal teeth. 



The Minnow is a voracious fish, feeding on vegetable substances, worms, 

 insects, small species of Helix, and freshwater mollusca; but it pays the 

 penalty for this gratification of a varied appetite by becoming infested with 

 12 



