THE BARBEL. 133 



Season of spawning False assertion. 



ton -rue of the barbel is pickled, afterwards put 

 into barrels,, and sent to Petersburg. The Cos- 

 sack* who inhabit the country adjacent to the ri- 

 ver Hi ulck, make isinglass with the sound or air- 

 hiadder of the barbel, but it is much inferior in 

 quality to that obtained from the sturgeon. The 

 barbel does not breed till it is four or five years 

 old. The season of spawning is in May, and 

 in June, if it be a backward spring. It then 

 ascends the rivers, depositing its eggs underneath 

 ithe stones, in places where the current is most 

 rapid. While it is young, the barbel is in danger 

 from all the voracious fish, particularly the loche. 

 In a fish weiging three pounds and a, half, caught 

 in the month of April, that is, a short time pre- 

 vious to the season for spawning, Dr. Blocli 

 found a roe not exceeding three quarters of an 

 ounce in weight, containing eight thousand and 

 twenty-five eggs of the size and colour of grains 

 of millet. 



Some writers assert that the eggs of this fish 

 are of a poisonous quality, and occasion fatal ac- 

 cidents to those who eat them ; but experience 

 proves that this opinion is fallacious. Dr. Bloch 

 states that he himself, and all his family, ate of 

 the eggs of the barbel without sustaining the 

 smallest inconvenience in consequence. 



Klein speaks of a king of the barbels, as of a 

 particular species, distinguished from the others 

 by the great length of his fins. But as he con- 

 s, that he never saw but one of the kind 



