196 PHYSOSTOMI. 



insisted that they never took the latter; so to test this he employed a small 

 bream for a bait, with which he took a pike. Numbers are employed in Norfolk 

 as bait for crab and lobster pots, for which they fetch 2s 6d a bushel, while there 

 is likewise a considerable demand for them as food in the Midland counties. 



As food. — Employed for this purpose to a considerable extent on the Continent, 

 but, due to its numerous bones and the softness and insipidity of its taste, it is 

 not much thought of in this country, and one authority likens it in shape to a 

 pair of bellows, and with much the same flavour. However, opinions have and 

 will differ on this point, and its best season for the table is during the spring and 

 autumn. Walton observes that in the autumn they become as fat as a hog, when 

 they afford a not unpleasant dish. 



In the Book of St. Alban's " the breeme " was considered " a noble fysshe and 

 deynteous." Chaucer spoke well of it as food, and Dugdale informs us that 

 about 1419, when the daily hire of a mason or carpenter was less than sixpence, 

 that a single bream was valued at twenty pence. Also that a bream pie contain- 

 ing four of these fish was sent from Warwickshire to a distant part of Yorkshire 

 at the cost of sixteen shillings, which included the wages of two fishermen for 

 three days in catching the fish, together with the cost of the flour and spices for 

 making the pie, and also its carriage. 



Habitat. — The middle districts of Europe, and northwards to St. Petersburgh, 

 Finland, and Scandinavia. Here it is local in its distribution, being found in the 

 lakes of Cumberland. In Yorkshire it is only recorded from the lower reaches of 

 the Don, Wharfe, Ure, Colbeck, Derwent, and Hull, as well as in canals. The 

 commonest fish of the lake Somerwater (Yorkshire Vertebrata). In Norfolk 

 found in immense shoals in all the broads. It is found in the Trent, the Ouse, 

 the Thames, the Wey, the Lea, the Mole, the Medway, and in the Pulborough 

 and Amberley waters. Also in our central counties, but is absent from Devon- 

 shire and Cornwall. In Wales, Swansea (Dillwyn) ; it has also been recorded 

 from Brecknock and other places. In Ireland it is found in many of the lakes 

 and slow running rivers, as Cavan and Fermanagh in the north, while in Lough 

 Erne it attains a large size. In 1835 Thompson observed that there were 

 numeroiis bream in the Lagan ; but an old fisherman assured him that twenty 

 years previously there had been none. 



At Cossey, in Norfolk, it has been twice captured at 7 lb. weight, and Mr. 

 Norman, of Yarmouth, took one, a female, of 8 lb. 12 oz. (Lowe). One, a male, 

 was taken near Cromer on June 17th, 1879, which weighed 11£ lb., and must 

 have been at least 26 years old ; it was 26 in. long and 10 in. deep. Jenyns 

 observes their weight sometimes exceeds 12 lb., and on the Continent to 14 lb. 

 Thompson alludes to Irish specimens of 7 lb., and Yarrell to 12 lb., or even 14 lb. 

 Baily (Anglers' Instructor) mentions one of 17 lb. in the Trent. 



b. Pharyngeal teeth in two rows — Blicca. 



2. Abramis blicca, Plate CXXXVI. 



Ballerus, Rondel, ii, p. 154 ; Schonev. p. 28 ; Aldrov. v, p. 645 ; Jonston, lib. 

 iii, t. iii, c. ix, p. 165. Blicca, Gesner, p. 167. Cyprinus, Artedi, Gen. p. 3, no. 3, 

 Spec. p. 20, no. 9, Synon. p. 13, no. 27. 



Cyprinus bjorkna,, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 532 ; Gmel. Linn. p. 1438. 



Cyprinus plesty a, Leske, Ich. Lips. p. 69. 



Cyprinus blicca, Bloch, Ichthy. i, p. 61, t. x ; Bonnaterre, Ency. Ich. p. 202, 

 pi. lxxxiii, f. 345 ; Bl. Schn. p. 437 ; Jenyns, Manual, p. 407 ; Ekstr. Morko, 

 p. 44; Fries and Ekstr. Skand. Fisk. p. 64, t. xii ; Schlegel, Dieren Neder. p. 108, 

 pi. xii, f. 2. 



Cyprinus latus, Gmel. Linn, i, p. 1438 ; Lacep. v, pp. 501, 604; Jenyns, Brit. 

 Vert. p. 26 ; Gronov. ed. Gray, p. 179. 



Cyprinus lashyr, Pall. Zoo. Boss. -As, iii, p. 326. 



Abramis blicca, Agass. Wiegm. Arch. 1838, p. 81 ; Ekstrom, Morko, p. 44, t. 

 iv ; Nord. in Demid. Voy. Ross. Merid. iii, p. 504, pi. xxii, f. 1 ; Ki oyer, Damn. 



