148 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Small fish called white-back. 



far from the place ; but in about two hours they 

 recover and disappear. Fish thus affected, tlu> 

 Thames fishermen call mad bleaks. They seem 

 also to be so troubled with a species of thegordias, 

 or hair worm, that they rise to the surface and 

 die. They are exceedingly restless, their haunts 

 being sometime in deep still water, and at other 

 times in the streams: they are very common in 

 many of our rivers, and assemble in shoals. They 

 are supposed to be always in season except 

 when spawning, which is said to be in May, from 

 which they recover in about three weeks, and 

 are in highest perfection in autumn. Artificial 

 pearls have been made from the scales of this 

 fish, and likewise of the dace. 



During the month of July, (say Goldsmith and 

 remnant) there appear in the Thames, near 

 Blackwall and Greenwich, innumerable multi- 

 tudes of small fish, known to the Londoners by 

 the name of white-bait. They are esteemed very 

 delicious when fried with fine flour, and occa- 

 sion, during the season, a vast resort of the 

 lower orders of epicures to the taverns at the 

 places they are taken. There are various suppo- 

 sitions concerning these fish, all of which termi- 

 nate in reckoning them the fry of some other 

 fish. Mr. Pennant thinks they are of the carp 

 genus, though he cannot determine the species 

 to which they belong. They certainly have a 

 greater similarity to the bleak than to any other 

 species ; yet he thinks they cannot be the young 



