21 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
N 
ently happy and comfortable.” Their immunity may be due to 
superficial secretions which are disagreeable to other fishes. 
Tench is a name derived from the old Latin Tinca which has 
developed into Tenca in modern Italy and Tanche in France. The 
Teutonic nations have very different words, Schleihe or Schley 
being the most common in Germany, Qeelt in Holland, and Lin- 
daren in Sweden. No traces of cognate names have been found in 
Britain. The scientific equivalent is Tinca tinca or vulgaris. The 
chief characteristics, as already indicated, are the small, thin, closely- 
adherent scales, and also the peculiar dark color. 
The GuDGEON (Gobio gobio) is a neat, symmetrical fish with the 
dorsal fin about its middle over the ventrals, and with a conspicuous 
barbel at each side of the mouth. It is gregarious and mostly keeps 
near the bottom. “To the fisherman living on the banks of the 
Thames the gudgeon is one of the most valuable of British fishes, 
inasmuch as fishing for the brave little fellow, which gives such 
excellent sport, is an excuse for many a pleasant outing.” It is the 
chief fish of the order in the Seine near Paris. 
Gudgeon is a name derived from the French Goujon; the German 
name is Griindling and the Dutch equivalent is Grondell. No con- 
gener of the gudgeon is found in America. 
The BARBEL of northern Europe (Barbus barbus) is the type of a 
genus of very numerous species peculiar to the Old World, repre- 
sented by many forms in Asia, especially in its southeastern regions, 
and about sixty in Africa. The name is cognate with those occur- 
ring in other countries and in the thirteenth century the same form 
was prevalent in France, but now Barbeau is the French name, 
Barbe the German, and Barbeel the Dutch. Barbel is a derivative 
of the late Latin Barbellus, a diminutive of the old name Barbus. 
The four barbels or barbs on the sides of the upper jaw (two on 
each side) are the distinctive characteristics of the common barbel 
but are not manifest in all the species of the genus. 
The collective characters of all the species are the three rows of 
pharyngeal teeth, as already indicated, which are cylindrical, hooked 
and excavated at the base of the crown, and there is also a general 
conformity in the head, course of the lateral line, and size of the 
fins. As might naturally be expected in such an enormous group, 
the variation otherwise is very great; in length they range from 
little more than an inch to five or six feet; in weight, from an ounce 
to nearly if not over a hundred pounds; although four barbels 
*A much greater weight has been claimed for one of the species of Barbus. 
Dr. Gtinther in 1868 (Catalogue, vir, 86) says unqualifiedly of the Barbus eso- 
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