POND AND RIVER FISH 



1031 



intelligence had taken the place of 

 emotion ; the original problems of life 

 had taken their place in the bees' con- 

 sciousness. Now they hung round their 

 beloved Queen ahnost motionless, waiting 

 upon events. Gradually the scouts, absent 

 since early morning, might have been 

 seen following their aerial roads to where 

 the swarm was stationed, and they shrilled 

 the news of their traffic and discoveries in 

 fashion that communicated the intelh- 

 gence to the stationary swarm. 



From the flower garden where he was 

 at work, the old gardener had seen the 

 exodus and, greatly pleased to see the 

 truants had settled within reach, was 

 mo\"ing in leisurely fashion to find a skep 

 in which to hold it. But the skep was 

 right at the back of the toolhouse, and 

 the gardener was no longer active. Many 

 odds and ends had been piled upon the 

 skep, much dust had accrmiulated in its 

 crevices, and so he took a brush and, in 

 most leisurely fashion, cleaned it and then 

 went to the herb garden to gather a few 

 leaves of thyme and other herbs with 

 which to freshen and sweeten it, for it 

 was the old man's theory that even a 

 skep should be made attractive and 



pleasant to the bees. His work C(jm- 

 pleted, he moved at last in the direction 

 of the mulberry tree. But before he 

 could get within thirty yards of it there 

 was a sudden commotion, the outer 

 circle of bees began to fall off and fly round. 

 The circle enlarged again rapidly ; the 

 whole swarm was on the wing, and a 

 moment later was heading ofi across the 

 valley, leaving the gardener to sit down 

 upon a wheelbarrow and wonder audibly. 

 There was no occasion for surprise. 

 While the bees were in their cluster under 

 the mulberry shade, the last of the Old 

 Queen's scouts had come bringing news of 

 a hive, clean, sweet scented and empty, in a 

 garden across the valley. She shrilled her 

 tidings of flowers full of fragrance, of a 

 wealth of pollen and nectar inexhaustible, 

 and told how beyond the garden there was 

 a field full of ripening white clover. Such 

 a prospect removed all need for further 

 consideration. Perhaps some shrewd but 

 unscrupulous beekeeper, knowing that 

 swarming time had come, had made his 

 own preparations for it ; and now the 

 swarm was across the river and over the 

 plantation that intervened between their 

 old home and the new. 



HOW TO KNOW THE COMMONER 

 POND AND RIVER FISH 



By STANLEY C. JOHNSON, M.A. 

 With Photographs by STANLEY and WALFORD JOHNSON 



IX differentiating between the various 

 fresh-water fish that commonly in- 

 habit Britain, most confusicjn is 

 hkely to arise with the members of the 

 Carp family. The topical representative 

 of this group is the Common Carp, a 

 fish that was extensively cultivated by 

 the monks of the Middle Ages as an article 

 of diet, and is now largely eaten on the 

 Continent, especially in Germany. It is 

 best recognised by the muzzle, which is 



blunt, rather small, with hanging barbels. 

 In colour it is a rich greyish-brown. Two 

 interesting varieties of this species are 

 the Mirror Carp and the Leather Carp. 

 The former has shining scales some four 

 times the normal size, which are arrangeil 

 usually in three rows running from head 

 to tail ; the latter is almost devoid of 

 scales, its unprotected skin being the 

 only covering. 



A better-known member of this family 



