136 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Esteemed by some and despised by others. 



weedv waters ; and its haunts in rivers are chiefly 

 a m on .a: \vccds, and in places well shaded with 

 rushes. These fish thrive best in standing wa- 

 ters, where they lie under weeds near sluices and 

 pond heads. They are much more numerous in 

 pools arid pits than in rivers ; but those taken in 

 the latter are tar preferable for the table. They 

 begin to spawn in June, and may be found 

 spawning in some waters till September, The 

 best season is from that time till the end of May. 



These fish do not often exceed four or five 

 pounds in weight. Mr. Pennant, however, men- 

 tions one that weighed ten pounds. Tench are 

 in great repute with us as a delicious and whole- 

 some food ; but in Guernsey they are considered 

 bad fish, and in contempt called Schoemaker. 

 Gessner even says, that it is insipid and unwhole- 

 some. Like the barbel, it was unnoticed by 

 early writers, and Ausonius, by whom it was first 

 mentioned, treats it with that disrespect which 

 evinces the capriciousnessof taste. 



The slime of the tench is supposed to possess 

 such healing properties among the fish that, it 

 is said, the pike, on this account, never attempts 

 to sei/.e it, though he devour, without excep- 

 tion, all the other species that he is able to over- 

 come : thus Mr. Diaper in his piscatory eclogue^ 

 poetically says, 



" Tin 1 pi!."', fell tyrant of ttie liquid plain,- 

 \Vitii ravenous waste devours his fellow train : 

 Yot, liowso'er with raging famine pin'il, 

 The tentli h* spares, a medicinal kLd > 



