GUDGEON. 
747 
according to Baron Cedeesteom, the Gudgeon is often- 
est taken in early summer in traps ( rgssjor , see above, 
p. 33, fig. 7), which are set in the middle of the river 
against the stream. The Gudgeon ascend the river in 
the evening to spawn", but in the morning return to 
Lake Finja. On the 25th of May, 1858 Cedeesteom 
observed the Gudgeon spawning in this locality; he was 
told that the spawning had already lasted a week here 
and along the shores of Lake Finja. Rusconi describes 
the spawning of the Gudgeon in Lombardy as follows 6 : 
“During my stay at Desio, on a most lovely day in 
July, I was walking early in the morning along the 
shore of the little lake of Villa Traversi. Suddenly a 
noise reached my ear. I thought at first that some 
one was beating the water with sticks or with the flat 
of an oar. On glancing along the shore 1 soon detected 
the spot from which the sound proceeded, as well as 
the cause of this disturbance: it was caused by spawn- 
ing fishes. Eager to obtain a closer view of this sight, 
I stealthily made my way towards them, and under 
cover of the bushes that fringed the shore, 1 got near 
enough to observe them with ease and without betray- 
ing my own presence. They lay at the mouth of a 
small brook, the water of which was cool and clear, but 
so scanty that the pebbles at the bottom were almost 
dry. They Avere Gudgeons. They approached the mouth 
of the brook. With rapid strokes they came swiftly on 
and advanced about a. metre up the brook, not leaping, 
but in a manner gliding over the pebbles. After this 
first spurt they stopped, bent the trunk and tail alter- 
nately to the right and left, and in this Avay rubbed 
the ventral side against the bottom. With the excep- 
tion of the belly and the loAver part of the head their 
whole body iioav lay out of the water. They retained 
this position for seven or eight seconds. Then they 
dealt a sharp bloAv with the tail on the bottom, splashing 
the water in all directions, turned round, and darted 
back to the lake, soon to repeat the same operation”. 
The eggs are comparatively large Avhen deposited, 
about 1 1 / 2 mm. in diameter, but also rather few in 
number, at most some thousands in each female. They 
are transparent, with a dash of blue or yellow. Valen- 
ciennes supposed that the Gudgeon spawns several times 
a year. The only evidence of this seems to be that the 
female does not deposit her roe all at once, but bit by 
bit. That the spaAvning-season is of long duration, 
hoAvever, is shoAvn by the fact that Fatio in SAvitzerland, 
and Lilljeborg here in the North, found females fall of 
roe, but not yet ready to spaAvn, late in July 0 ’. 
To the angler the Gudgeon affords excellent sport. 
It readily takes a bait of flies or worms; and tenacious 
of life as it is, it may be used Avith advantage as live 
bait for larger fish. Its greatest value lies, however, 
in the flesh, Avhich is of delicious flavour and easy of 
digestion. Buckland Avrites: “When out gudgeon-fishing 
on the Thames, be sure and take a frying-pan, as gud- 
geons taken out of the Avater and immediately fried are 
delicious. Clean, Avipe, and Hour, then Avell fry in 
boiling fat, or, better, in oil, till they are crisp and of 
a light brown colour. Such a fish dinner is ahvays a 
great feature in a pic-nic on a fine day”. A someAvhat 
similar method is employed in Scania in the prepara- 
tion of fiskaltaga (fish-cake) from Gudgeons and other 
small fishes. 
Genus TINCA. 
Base of the dorsal fin less titan twice that of the anal. Branched rags in the dorsal fin at most 9, in the anal 
at most 8. Neither of these fins furnished with, a spiniferous rag. Scales small and thin — their number in 
the lateral line at least about 90. Distance between the anal fin and the vent onlg V 2 or V 3 
of the base of this fin. 
By the deeper form of the body this genus is more comes nearer the Leuciscines, among Avhich the MinnoAv 
closely approximated to the true Carps; but it also with its small scales reminds us most of Tinea. Only 
a According to Fatio the Gudgeon spawns in the daytime. 
b See Bbehm, Thierleben , Aufl. 2, Abth. 3, Bd. 2, p. 275. 
c Valenciennes also states that the spawning lasts from April to the end of July or the middle of August. The Gudgeons we re- 
ceived this year (1891) at the beginning of June from the Finja, had just commenced spawning. 
