SLY SILUBUa Silunts gJanis. 



THE last of the three is the EOACH, a fish especially dear to scientific anglers, on account 

 of its capricious habits, and the delicate skill required to form a successful Boach-fisher. 



An angler accomplished in this art will catch Eoach where no one without specia, 

 experience would have a chance of a bite, and will succeed in his beloved sport through 

 almost every season of the year, the winter months being the favourites. So capricious 

 are these fish, and so sensitive to the least change of weather, that a single hour will 

 suffice to put them off their feed, and the angler may be suddenly checked in the midst of 

 his sport by an adverse breeze or change in the temperature. 



The Eoach is a gregarious fish, swimming in shoals, and keeping tolerably close 

 to each other. It is not a large species, all over a pound being considered as fine specimens, 

 and any that weigh more than two pounds are thought rare. It is a pretty fish, the 

 upper parts of the head and body being greyish green glossed with blue, the abdomen 

 silvery white, and the sides passing gradually into white from the darker colours of 

 the back. The pectoral, ventral, and anal fins are bright red, the former having a tinge of 

 yellow, and the dorsal and tail fins are brownish red. 



CLOSELY allied to the roach is the DACE (Leuciscus vulgaris), a common and small 

 species that inhabits most of our streams. The well-known CHUB (Leuciscus c&phalus) 

 also belongs to this genus, as does the BLEAK (Leuciscus alburnus), in many counties 

 called the TAILOR BLAY by the ignorant, from the idea that whenever any other fish, 

 especially the pike, wounds its skin, it immediately seeks the aid of the Bleak, which, by 

 rubbing its body against the wound, causes the torn skin to close. The beautifully 

 white crystalline deposit beneath the scales was much used in the manufacture of 

 artificial pearls, hollow glass beads being washed in the interior with a thin layer of this 

 substance, and then filled with white wax. The scales of the whitebait were also used 

 for the same purpose. The MINNOW (Leuciscus phoxinus) is another member of this large 

 genus, and is too well known to need description. 



WE now come to another family, selecting as an example a tolerably well-known species. 

 The SLY SILUEUS, sometimes called the SHEAT-FISH, is found in many rivers in 

 different parts of the world. 



