CTPRINID^. 187 



abundant up to 1250 feet elevation ; in Norfolk it shuns stagnant water, but is 

 plentiful in the rivers above Norwich but does not often occur below that city. 



Throughout most of the streams, canals, and in many ponds of England and 

 Wales, especially in rivers with gravelly bottoms, and found as far as Cornwall, 

 but said to be absent from the Isle of Wight. 



Ireland. — Scarce where calcareous rocks predominate, while in Scotland, 

 ■where the water is very free from calcareous matter, the minnow is common. 

 Several localities in counties Down and Wicklow. In fact, it is a very local fish 

 in that island and rare in many districts. Introduced into the Dodder from 

 Dublin about 1822 (Kinahan) ; and Dr. Ball mentions one 6 inches in length taken 

 in a pond at Glasnevin Gardens near Dublin ; also that when he was at Lough 

 Dan in Wicklow in 1846, a fisherman informed him he had been there twenty- 

 five years (1821) and that they were as plentiful when he came as they "were 

 now. Professor Ernst Priedel has stated that at Dublin (1879 or 1880) he 

 " was struck by the thousands of minnows, Leuciscus phoxinus, the more so as this 

 fish has only of late years been introduced into Ireland, and is as yet only found 

 in the rivers of Dublin and Wicklow." 



The figure is from a specimen taken in Hampshire. It attains to as much as 

 6 or 7 inches in length but is rarely seen above 3 or 4. 



