CYPEINIDiE OR CARPS. 381 



ceeruleus ; nature's minim, the minnow, L. phoxinus, the 

 tiny ogre which devours its own dead. All those fa- 

 vourites of our young boyhood, which somehow never 

 entirely escaped our rod ; for when the midsummer day 

 dream was passed, and our light fish-basket had nothing 

 to show but gentles, pastes, and tangled tackle, we were 

 sure at night, albeit with closed eyes, to see the bob- 

 bing float disappear under water, presently to bring out 

 the TreireSTjfjAvov IxOiiv twisting on the line ; and soon 

 to cover our eager hands with the mica of imaginary 

 scales.* On any or all of these prime favourites of our 

 teens we could now (how complacently!) dwell; but 

 warned by the recollection of many other more im- 



* The nursery classics did not embrace, in the Jack-the-Giant- 

 kiUer days of our youth, the same instructive and moral enter- 

 tainment which tkey do at present. The story of the ' Little 

 Fisherman' and others ejusdem farina bear reference to the 

 past ; no child properly instructed by such a lively warning as 

 the foUowing (which we copy from o\ir httle four-year-old's last 

 birthday present) is ever Kkely to become an angler, or to be 

 visited with our own youthful dreams : — 



There was a httle fellow once. 



And Harry was his name, 

 And many a naughty trick he had, 



I tell it to his shame. 



He minded not his friends' advice 



But followed his own wishes, 

 And one most cruel trick of his 



Was, that of catching fishes. 



And many a httle fish he caught. 



And pleased was he to look. 

 To see him writhe in agony 



And struggle on the hook. 



At last, when having caught enough. 



And also tired himself. 

 He hastened home, intending there 



To put them on a shelf. 



