CYPRINID^E. 177 



Devonshire ended in a large piece of water or lake, neaily two miles in extent, 

 close to the sea, but having no outlet except by percolation through a barrier of 

 shingle ; here roach throve and multiplied exceedingly. One year the sea broke 

 its boundaries and flowed copiously into the lake at every tide for a considerable 

 time by which every species of fish therein was destroyed. As the cold weather 

 sets in, as about October, the roach seeks the deeper waters where a gravelly 

 or sandy bottom is preferred to a muddy one. 



Means of capture. — This fish is capricious respecting biting, although Dame 

 Juliana Berners observed, " the roche is an easy fysshe to take," and later still 

 Isaak Walton tells us that it was accounted the water sheep for its simplicity and 

 foolishness. But now, in some localities at least, it has been educated to be more 

 careful of the tempting bait. The angler must employ, in the Thames 

 or Lea for instance, fine tackle, be careful as to his depth, the bait in 

 a river being about 3 inches from the bottom, but less in a pond, while 

 he must be an adept in striking sharply but not violently, on a bite 

 occurring, use a small hook, have a quick eye and nimble hand. In ponds it is 

 often more ready to take a bait than it is in rivers, the following account is taken 

 from a newspaper : — An angler baited a spot at about 5 p.m. on Saturday in 

 August, in Herefordshire, with gentles and wasp grubs, and again on Sunday at 

 3 p.m. On Monday morning, at 4 a.m., he was in his punt at the spot and baited 

 with wasp grubs, and fished about one inch from the bottom. The fish bit 

 ravenously : at 12 the sun came out brightly and they ceased biting : he had 

 then 241 fish (Field, Sept. 2nd, 1882). As the frost kills aquatic weeds then the 

 anglers opportunity is at hand, for as the roach loses this form of food it becomes 

 less shy in taking a bait. 



Baits. — The tail of a lob worm, a bit of bacon fat, gentles, pastes of various 

 kinds, and prepared greaves, boiled wheat and brewers' grains, while ground baits 

 are generally employed. Although it rarely takes a live bait, one weighing 1| lb. 

 was thus captured by a paternoster baited with a live minnow at Pangburn, 

 November 27th, 1882 (Field), and the editor of the Field observes that he has 

 taken the roach once or twice in the same way. It will also occasionally take 

 a fly. 



Roach preserved in spirit are said to do well as bait for winter trolling. 



Breeding. — A very prolific fish, the eggs of which are greenish but become 

 red on being boiled. About the middle of May or in June it commences ascending 

 to the higher portions of rivers or side streams to breed : its scales become rough 

 and it is usually out of season. Buckland found 480 eggs in one of 28 oz. 

 weight. In some years this is accomplished earlier. Thus, in the Thames, in 

 1881, the ascent for this purpose was observed at the end of April (Field, 

 April 30th). At a meeting of anglers held in Birmingham, April 4th, 1881, 

 it was generally agreed that in the Trent this heading up had not been seen 

 before the middle of May. In Norfolk it generally resorts to a river for the 

 purpose of breeding, or selects a situation intermediate between one and a broad 

 but to which it is united by a main dyke. At that time, remarks Lubbock, the 

 roach crowd together in such dense multitudes along the rushes which fringe the 

 bank that every instant one sees small ones raised momentarily half out of the 

 water by the passage of a larger roach. These fish appear to lose all fear in the 

 overwhelming instinct which prompts them to propagate their kind, and may be 

 scooped out in numbers with a landing-net : if a bow-net is put in they will crowd 

 in until the centre can contain no more. Nilsson remarks that the males precede 

 the females in these annual migrations. 



But the eggs themselves are subjected to great destruction. Thus, it has 

 been observed near Uxbridge that at spawning time the roach actually cover the 

 weeds near the weir, while water shrimps and other insects come down upon 

 them and in a very short time clear them almost entii'ely away (Buckland). 

 Having spawned, the roach seeks swift parts of rivers and gravelly shallows to 

 recover itself, which does not take very long (about a fortnight), and it soon 

 retires to quieter quarters. 



Hybrids. — Various fishes upon the Continent of Europe have been believed to 



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