134 PEESH-WATEE AQrAEIA. 



raw meat. This fish appears to discover the presence of its 

 food by smell rather than by sight. In an aquarium made to 

 suit its convenience, the Loach will soon become tame enough 

 to feed from the fingers, and will as quickly prove itself to be 

 a most interesting little fish. The flesh of the Stone Loach 

 is highly esteemed as a great delicacy. The body of this fish is 

 almost cylindrical in shape. The mouth is surrounded by six 

 barbels. The colour of the back is a kind of olive-brown, 

 which becomes lighter in shade on the sides. The whole fish 

 is more or less covered with dark spots. The dorsal fin is 

 placed over the ventral fin.. The dorsal and tail fins are 

 brownish, and marked with little dark dots an-anged in 

 lines ; the other fins are tinged with red. The tail fin is 

 slightly concave. The Loach has the power of using its intes- 

 tines as a supplementary means of respiration. The body is 

 covered with mucus. This fish rarely exceeds 5in. in length. 



The Spinous Loach {Cohitis toenia) is not nearly so common 

 as the stone loach, and is found where the water is muddy 

 rather than clear. Of the two fish, the former is perhaps 

 the hardier. Both, however, should be treated in precisely the 

 same way while kept in confinement. The colour of the 

 Spinous Loach is a kind of orange-brown. On the sides 

 there is a row of brown spots, somewhat similar to those 

 often found upon the sides of the minnow. The barbels are 

 short. There is a small spine below each eye : the fish is 

 able to raise these spines at pleasure. This fish, in common 

 with the stone loach and another loach {Misgurnus fossilis), 

 has the power of using the intestines as supplementary 

 breathing organs. The Spinous Loach does not exceed 4in. 

 in length, and is not much esteemed as food. 



The Golden Orfe {Leuciscus orfus) (Fig. 100) is a very 

 beautiful and interesting little fish, and is in every way suit- 

 able for the aquarium. It originally came to this country, 

 I think, from Austria. While in captivity it should be 

 fed upon vermicelli, and occasionally small garden-worms. 

 A friend of mine has told me that he has more than once 

 seen his Golden Orfe devour young minnows. My Orfe, though 

 I have never seen it take minnows, at first preferred worms 



