278 PEOSE HALIEUTICS. 



the shape of an eel^ and hath a beard of wattles^ like a 

 barbel/ neither of which very striking peculiarities could 

 possibly have been overlooked by HicesiuSj had this been 

 the fish he intended. 



The loach enjoys a good reputation : our ' Izaak^ con- 

 siders it a dainty dish at table ; and Gesner emphatically, 

 the invalid's fish. We miist, however, discriminate a 

 little here, for there are three distinct species, of very 

 different merits : ' he that feedeth and is bred in little 

 and clear swift brooks or riUs, over gravel, and in the 

 sharpest streams, is the best ;' inferior to them in qua- 

 lity and size, though from the same locality, is the C. 

 tajuia, characterized 'by a forked prickle in front of 

 the eyes :' and lastly, there is the common pond loach, 

 C. fossilis, of soft flabby fibre, and strongly impregnated 

 with the smell and taste of tank : this species exceeds 

 the others in size, attaining occasionally upwards of a 

 foot in length, and is further distinguished by possessing 

 at least ten barbels to his beard. 



The fecundity of the cobites is immense; they begin 

 to propagate very young, and seem to be always either 

 spawning or in roe : this surprising power of reproduction 

 was sufficiently known to be proverbial in Shakspeare's 

 day. In a dialogue between two Rochester carriers, he 

 makes one of these Kaprepol dvSpe<; say to his com- 

 panion (we care not to transcribe the whole passage), 

 ' Yoiir chimney lie breeds fleas like a loach.'* Nor is 

 their power of sustaining life less striking than that of 

 engendering it. Like Theophrastus' Koa^ibi, they are 

 not unfrequently found frozen alive ;t on such occasions 



* The generally prolific nature of fish, seems to have attracted 

 notice from the very earliest time : thus Jacob, blessing Ephraim 

 and Manasseh, says, ' Let them grow into a multitude as do fishes ;' 

 a circumstance no doubt adverted to by Solomon in his book on 

 Fishes, which has so unfortunately been lost. 



t We do not know of any creatures of a higher organization 



