CHAP. XVIII. ] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 211 



The Minnow hath, when he is in perfect season and not 

 sick, which is only presently after spawning, a kind of dap- 

 pled or waved color, like to a panther, on his sides, inclining 

 to a greenish and sky-color, his belly being milk-white, and 

 his back almost black or blackish. He is a sharp biter at a 

 small worm, and in hot weather makes excellent sport for young 

 Anglers, or boys, or women that love that recreation. And 

 in the spring they make of them excellent Minnow -Tansies ; for, 

 being washed well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, 

 and their guts taken out, and not washed after, they prove 

 excellent for that use ; that is, being fried with yolks of eggs, 

 the flowers of cowslips, and of primroses, and a little tansy ; 

 thus used they make a dainty dish of meat. 



The LOACH is, as I told you, a most dainty fish : he breeds 

 and feeds in little and clear swift brooks, or rills, and lives 

 there upon the gravel, and in the sharpest streams : he grows 

 not to be above a finger long, and no thicker than is suitable 

 to that length. This Loach is not unlike the shape of the Eel : 

 he has a beard or wattles like a Barbel. He has two fins at his 

 sides, four at his belly, and one at his tail ; he is dappled with 

 many black or brown spots ; his mouth is Barbel-like under his 

 nose. This fish is usually full of eggs or spawn, and is by Ges- 

 ner, and other learned physicians, commended for great nour- 

 ishment, and to be very grateful both to the palate and stomach 

 of sick persons. He is to be fished for with a very small worm 

 at the bottom ; for he very seldom or never rises above the 

 gravel, on which, I told you, he usually gets his living. 



The MILLER'S-THUMB or BULL-HEAD, is a fish of no pleasing 

 shape. He is by Gesner compared to the Sea-toad-fish, for 

 his similitude and shape. It has a head, big and flat, much 

 greater than suitable to his body ; a mouth very wide and usu- 

 ally gaping. He is without teeth, but his lips are very rough, 

 much like to a file. He hath two fins near to his gills, which 

 be roundish or crested ; two fins also under the belly ; two on 

 the back ; one below the vent ; and the fin of his tail is round. 



