BARBEL. 



" Barbel appear to be in a torpid state in very cold wea- 

 ther, so much so that they may be taken up by the hand. 

 The fishermen provide themselves with a net fastened to an 

 iron hoop, having a handle to it, which they place near the 

 fish, and with a pole push it into the net, so perfectly inani- 

 mate are they at this season. Shoals of them also congregate 

 under the lee of a sunken boat, lying one upon the other, 

 and are often taken by letting a hook down amongst them, 

 and then pulling it up." 



The length of the head is, to the whole length of the 

 fish, as one to five ; the head the same length as the longest 

 of the caudal rays : depth of the body not equal to the length 

 of the head, and compared to the whole length of the fish 

 as one to five and a half. The head elongated, wedge- 

 shaped ; nose produced ; upper jaw much the longest ; under 

 jaw very short ; upper lip fleshy, forming three-fourths of a 

 circle round the under jaw ; opening of the mouth horizontal, 

 admirably adapted to feeding on the ground ; one pair of 

 cirri or barbules at the front of the nose, and a single one at 

 each end of the upper lip, near the angle of the mouth ; 

 nostrils about one-third nearer the eye than the end of the 

 nose : form of the body elongated : dorsal fin commencing 

 half-way between the point of the nose and the end of the 

 fleshy portion of the tail ; the base of the fin shorter than the 

 longest ray, the third ray the longest as well as the strongest, 

 denticulated on its hinder surface ; pectoral fin half as long 

 as the distance between its origin and the origin of the ven- 

 tral fin ; the ventral fin commencing in a vertical line under 

 the fourth ray of the dorsal fin ; anal fin commencing half- 

 way between the origin of the ventral fin and the end of the 

 fleshy portion of the tail ; the base of the fin half as long as 

 the longest ray : the tail deeply forked, the longest rays 

 three times as long as the middle short ones. 



Y 2 



