58 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



females big with spawn : some lamperns ; some bulls 

 heads ; but I could procure no minnows. This basket 

 will be in Fleet-street by eight this evening ; so I hope 

 Mazel will have them fresh and fair to-morrow morning. 

 I gave some directions, in a letter, to what particulars 

 the engraver should be attentive. 



Finding, while I was on a visit, that I was within a 

 reasonable distance of Ambresbury, I sent a servant over 

 to that town, and procured several living specimens of 

 loaches, which he brought, safe and brisk, in a glass 

 decanter. They were taken in the gullies that were cut 

 for watering the meadows. From these fishes (which 

 measured from two to four inches in length) I took the 

 following description : " The loach, in its general aspect, 

 has a pellucid appearance : its back is mottled with 

 irregular collections of small black dots, not reaching 

 much below the linea lateralis, as are the back and tail 

 fins : a black line runs from each eye down to the nose ; 

 its belly is of a silvery white ; the upper jaw projects 

 beyond the lower, and is surrounded with six feelers, 

 three on each side ; its pectoral fins are large, its ventral 

 much smaller ; the fin behind its anus small ; its dorsal 

 fin large, containing eight spines ; its tail, where it joins 

 to the tail-fin, remarkably broad, without any taperness, 

 so as to be characteristic of this genus : the tail-fin is 

 broad, and square at the end. From the breadth and 

 muscular strength of the tail, it appears to be an active 

 nimble fish." 



In my visit I was not very far from Hungerford, and 

 did not forget to make some inquiries concerning the 

 wonderful method of curing cancers by means of toads. 

 Several intelhgent persons, both gentry and clergy, do, I 

 find, give a great deal of credit to what was asserted in 

 the papers : and I myself dined with a clergyman who 

 seemed to be persuaded that what is related is matter of 



