CYPRINIML 195 



In Norfolk we are told that should a bow-net be set for tench, bream crowd in 

 before they arrive and thus exclude them. In perch-fishing it consumes the 

 anglers' best worms, tries his patience, and soils his fingers. One of the great evils 

 of this fish is its excessive increase, which occasions it to consume all the food 

 which might have been available for better forms of fish. 



In Sweden it is considered a timid fish, and Nilsson observes that during the 

 period its fishing is carried on, it is forbidden to ring the church bells lest they 

 might be scared. The shoals of these fishes are said always to have a sentinel on 

 the watch. 



Means of capture. — Bottom fishing, one of the best baits being small red 

 worms and brandlings. When hooked in deep water it bores down into the mud, 

 rubbing the line with its tail, thus causing it to be muddy for some distance 

 above the hook, while it is a very suspicious fish, and considerable caution is 

 necessary in order to avoid letting one's presence be detected. From July to 

 October are perhaps the best angling months for the bream ; the warmer the day 

 the better, while it bites best of a morning and evening. Thompson remarks 

 that it is taken with the greatest success in the Lagan by ground baiting with 

 balls of grain from the distilleries, seeds (cast off from flummery), or boiled oats, 

 being mixed up with potatoes in the form of balls, and thrown into the river at 

 night. Bream collect from all quarters to partake of it, and the next day anglers 

 employ worms as bait, generally with success. In Ireland it is netted in large 

 numbers. 



Baits. — Worms. Dr. Norman, of Yarmouth, says they must be worms of the 

 largest size, not those dug out of the ground. They must be picked up off the 

 grass at night. A good ground bait is half a pailful of bullock's blood, a pailful 

 of fresh grains, half a pailful of very clean clay, a handful of dogs' greaves well 

 broken up, three handfuls of meal, and a little oilcake. This is worked into a 

 pudding and divided into balls not quite so large as a child's head, and partially 

 baked in the sun. In June and July it will take a grasshopper from which the 

 legs have been removed. Small hooks and light but strong tackle are necessary, 

 and the angler that strikes at once on receiving a bite will have most chance of 

 success. 



Breeding. — When preparing to spawn about May, Lubbock observes, " they 

 roll about like miniature porpoises, and the water is discoloured by their work- 

 ings. Here a nose appears, and there a back fin, while at intervals a plunge of 

 affright amongst the multitude shows that a large pike is busy." In Norfolk it 

 generally selects a broad as a breeding-place, while the eggs are of a reddish 

 colour, and Bloch observed 130,000 in one fish. One female is frequently 

 attended by as many as three or four males. During the breeding season the 

 scales feel rough to the touch, due to small whitish tubercles which appear upon 

 them at this period. 



Hybrids. — I have already remarked (p. 177) how hybrids between the roach, 

 Leuciscus rutihcs, and other Cyprinidaa cannot occur in Ireland because the roach 

 of that country is L. erythrophthalmus, or the rudd, which is termed a roach in 

 the Emerald Isle. It is not, however, improbable, that elsewhere the L. rutilus 

 may also assist in the creation of hybrids with the bream. The following, which 

 has been found in Ireland, may be deemed a cross between the bream and the rudd. 



B. iii, D. 13-14 (*£), P. 15-17, V. 9-10, A. 17-22 ( TT * T s), C. 19, L. I. 45-52, 

 L. tr. 8 f_Vi Vert. 41. 



Pharyngeal teeth usually in one row, but in rare exceptions a second row, 

 formed by means of a single additional tooth. 



Thompson observes that in Ireland this form has been captured in the river 

 Lagan, where the common bream is abundant. It has also been taken at Cossey, 

 above Norwich (Lubbock), Dagenham Breach in Essex (Yarrell), Cambridgeshire 

 (Jenyns), Wolverhampton (Edwardes), and some other districts in England, 

 Holland, and Germany. 



Uses. — Food for pike and ohter rapacious fishes. Mr. Gurney observes that 

 once, when trolling for a pike in a pond where bream was found, the keeper 



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