142 NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Description Liveliness- General weight. 



in hot weather from sunrise till nine o'clock; and 

 from three in the afternoon till sunset. In cold 

 weather the best time is the middle of the day. 

 The baits are various kinds of worms, grasshop- 

 pers, blue-bottles, beetles, and almost any natu- 

 ral or artificial fly. 



DACE, OR DARE. 



THE head of dace is small, the irides of a 

 pale yellow ; the body long and slender ; the 

 back varied with dusky, and a cast of yellowish 

 green ; the sides and body silvery ; the ventral, 

 anal, and caudal fins are sometimes of a pale red 

 hue, and the tale is very much forked. These 

 fish are gregarious and very lively ; during sum- 

 mer they are fond of playing near the surface of 

 the water. They are generally found where the 

 water is deep, and the stream gentle, near the 

 piles of bridges. They also frequent deep holes 

 that are shaded by the leaves of the water-lily ; 

 and under the foam on the shallows of streams. 



Dace seldom weigh more than a pound and a ' 

 half, being seldom above ten inches long : al- 

 though in a list of fish sold in the London mar- 

 kets, with the highest weight of each, commu- 

 nicated to Mr. Pennant, there is an account of 

 one that weighed a pound and a half; and ac- 

 cording to Linneeus, it grows to a foot and a half 

 in length. 



