WHITE BREAM. 41 



as an instance of this, and it appears not unlikely that the 

 reverse of this is the case in some parts of Ireland. 



It might have been preferable to have limited to the species 

 now under consideration the name of Shude, which is used in 

 the north of Ireland for the early stage of both these fishes, 

 and for the latter during the whole of its existence; but we 

 have decided otherwise in order to avoid confusion. At 

 the same time it should be borne in mind that the Lake Bream 

 is equally white until of nearly full growth, and also that in 

 Ekstrom's "History of Scandinavian Fishes," the figure of 

 Abramis Blicca is decidedly yellow. 



Instead of giving an extended description of the White 

 Bream, we will simply point out those characters by which it 

 may be distinguished from the Lake Bream, with which alone 

 it is likely to be confounded; and in doing this we prefer 

 to select these points to which attention has been particularly 

 directed by writers whose opportunities of comparison have been 

 the greatest; as by this means we avoid those mistakes which 

 might be committed in confounding casual differences with such 

 as impress a permanent character. 



The White Bream rarely exceeds the length of a foot, and 

 a usual weight is about a pound. Nilsson says that the outline 

 of the body is more arched than in the Lake Bream; but the 

 proportions of the younger fish are more lengthened than when 

 it has become older, and in that early condition it more closely 

 resembles the last-named fish. Both jaws are also more nearly 

 equal; the head large; back much compressed; over the neck a 

 depression, from which the arch rises to the dorsal fin, beyond 

 which to the tail is straight, so that the space at the tail is 

 wider (or deeper.) The lateral line is not so low on the body 

 as in the Lake Bream; scales large and thin. Colour of the 

 back bluish brown, sides white tinged with blue, white below; 

 pectoral and ventral fins reddish, other fins brownish grey. 



Fin rays — dorsal ten, pectoral eighteen, ventral nine, anal 

 twenty-four or five, caudal nineteen. Both Nilsson and Mr. 

 Yarrell assign to the pectoral fin three less, and to the anal 

 five, than in the Lake Bream, but the last-named author gives 

 twenty-two as the number of rays in the anal fin. 



VOL. IV. 



