TENCH. 333 



so engrossed are they at this time in the fulfilment of the 

 Divine command, that I have frequently dipped out all 

 three fish by a sudden plunge of a landing-net. The ova 

 are very numerous, Bloch says near three hundred thousand 

 in a fish of four pounds'* weight. The food of the Tench 

 consists of the various soft-bodied animals which inhabit 

 fresh-water, with some vegetable matter, as the contents of 

 the intestines seem to indicate ; and the best bait for them 

 is the dark red meadow-worm, which they take very readily 

 early in the morning throughout the summer. They are said 

 to bury themselves in soft mud during winter, and certainly 

 move very little in the colder months of the year. 



The length of the head, compared to the length of the 

 head and body without including the caudal rays, is as two 

 to seven ; the depth of the body compared to the length of 

 the head and body as one to three ; the head rather large and 

 blunt ; the mouth small, with a very small barbule at each 

 corner ; the tongue short ; the lips flesh colour ; the eyes 

 small, the irides golden yellow ; a row of mucous pores down 

 the preoperculum, and thence taking a direction towards the 

 mouth. The body covered with small scales, about forty- 

 eight, in an oblique row between the base of the dorsal fin 

 and the origin of the ventral. The fin-rays in number are 



D. 10 : P. 17 : V. 10 : A. 9 : C. 19. 



The dorsal fin commences about the middle of the body, 

 the first ray half as long as the second, which is one-third 

 longer than the whole base of the fin, and more than half as 

 long as the body is deep ; the front line of the fin straight, 

 the upper and hinder edges rounded ; the pectoral fins large 

 and rounded ; the ventral fins arise in a vertical line before 

 the commencement of the dorsal, and exhibit the sexual 

 indication already noticed ; the anal fin commences half-way 



