130 ANECDOTES OF FISHES 



In the northern parts of Europe, and in Sibe- 

 ria, they attain the length of six or seven inches. 

 Ugly as this fish appears, after you have cut 

 off its head, the largest are very nutritive, and 

 prove excellent eating. They are most easily 

 caught by the smallest hook, and red worm with- 

 out float, letting the bait drop directly before them. 

 They are found in small gravelly brooks, lying on 

 a flat stone, or gravel, in warm days. Editor. 



The bull-head is eaten also in Italy, as Mr. 

 Riso says ; and Pallas tells us it is used by some 

 Russians, as a charm against fever, while others 

 suspend it horizontally, carefully balanced by a 

 single thread : and thus poised, but allowed free- 

 dom of motion, they believe that this fish indi- 

 cates the point of the compass from which the 

 wind blows. In Switzerland the children spear 

 them. See a very ingenious description of the 

 bull-head, (whose second name is miller's thumb,) 

 in the celebrated YarrelVs History of British 

 Fishes, which is a very interesting book. 



