THE LOACH. 131 



cles, the parents themselves, especially the males, 

 being at the same time brilliantly adorned by 

 ruddy green and gold. The flesh of the minnow 

 is delicate and well flavoured, but its size is too 

 small to admit of its being of much value as an 

 article of food. It is principally used as a bait for 

 the capture of the larger kinds. 



THE LOACH OR, BEARDIE.* 



We here name this familiar species also rather 

 from love to the associations of early life, than from 

 any respect we bear to its own character. The 

 loach is entirely a ground fish, living in clear and 

 gravelly streams. It forms an excellent bait for 

 eels, and is also a nutritious food for man, though 

 of a slimy surface, and somewhat forbidding aspect. 

 It feeds on small worms, and various aquatic insects, 

 and is very prolific, spawning in early spring. Its 

 flesh is highly regarded by many, and some con- 

 tinental people hold it in such esteem, as to cause 

 its transportation from one river to another, at 

 considerable expense and trouble. Frederick the 

 First of Sweden, caused loaches to be carried from 

 Germany, with a view to their being naturalized 

 in his own more northern kingdom.*} 1 



* Cobitis larbatula, Linn, 

 f FAUNA SUECICA. 



