4 NOTES ON FISH AND PISHING. 



stickleback belong to the first-named class, as " prickular " 

 demonstration often brings home to the incautious angler; 

 while to the " Soft-finned " tribe, which may be handled 

 with impunity, at least as regards their fins, belong the 

 carp and all other fish I treat of, with the exception of 

 the lampern, which belongs to the Pleetognathi order (so 

 named from the arrangement of the maxillary bones) ; 

 and the cray- fish, which is, strictly speaking, no fish at 

 all, but an Invertebrate animal, and a member of the great 

 Class called " Crustacea." But under the two chief Orders 

 above-named we must, for perspicuity sake, and at the 

 same time to add to our interest in our captures, range 

 the respective " Families " of fish. These are many, but. 

 Four only need concern us here, namely, the Percidce 

 family, which, of course, is represented by our perch; 

 the Salmonidce, by trout and grayling; the Esocidce, 

 by pike ; while the Gyprinidce, or carp family, comprises 

 the great bulk of our fresh- water fish, viz. the common 

 carp, barbel, bream, tench, roach, dace, chub, gudgeon, 

 bleak, and minnow. 



The Structure of fish and their animal organization 

 present almost endless subjects of interest and admira- 

 tion. Though they live in the water, yet atmospheric 

 air (oxygen) is equally the pabulum vitce of fish and 

 fishermen. Just as our warm red blood is purified and 

 restored in its vital and arterial qualities by air passing 

 through our lungs, so is the cold red blood of fish by 

 passing through their gills; and as by the process of 

 breathing we extract the oxygen and so vitiate the air, 

 in like manner do fish taking the water in at their mouths 

 extract from it the air held in suspension, and pass it out 

 under the gill-covers in a vitiated state. A man sub- 



