POPE. 
43 
Thus the length of the head and the size of the 
eyes in proportion to the length of the body diminish 
with age. The other proportions given above increase 
with age; and the male seems to differ from the fe- 
male in the greater length of the ventral tins and the 
slightly deeper form of the body. 
The Pope, which in Scandinavia is known by se- 
veral names, e. g. kullbas or kullribas (the German 
Kaulbarsch ) in the south of Sweden, Hark in Denmark 
and Horr in Norway, occurs more or less plentifully 
in almost all waters. It seems, however, to belong 
more strictly to the central and northern provinces of 
Sweden than to the southern ones. With the exception 
of the countries which border on the Mediterranean, it 
occurs throughout Europe, and in the Arctic regions 
it is met with from the White Sea to Siberia, at least 
as far as the Lena. It inhabits the island-belts of the 
Baltic where the water is not too salt, as well as most 
of our rivers and lakes. It prefers lakes where the 
water is clear, and though it is sometimes met with in 
lakes with a muddy bottom, still it does not flourish 
so well in such waters. It apparently prefers a bottom 
of sand or clay, but may also be found where the 
bottom is stony or among weeds. In spring it ascends 
the streams and brooks, but does not stay there during 
winter. In autumn it makes its way to deep water, 
where it passes the winter. It seems to be of a very 
sluggish disposition. It always keeps close to the bottom, 
never goes to the surface and is seldom seen midway 
in the water. During the spawning season and in 
winter it lives in company with its fellows," while dur- 
ing the rest of the year it leads a solitary life. It stays 
long at the same spot and seems to await the approach 
of its prey rather than hunt for it; and when it does 
move, it does not do so by continuous swimming but 
by rapidly darting forward again and again. Still it 
is not incapacity that is the cause of this sluggishness 
and indifference. When it is frightened, its movements 
through the water are so speedy, that they have given 
rise to the proverb ’as quick as a pope’. Its voracity 
is great, and it eats indiscriminately small fry, insects, 
worms and shellfish, which it finds on weeds, stones 
or other objects lying in the water. Seldom, if ever, 
does it seize any prey which is at liberty and moves 
quickly through the water. Thus it bites freely if the 
bait be allowed to rest at the bottom. It is highly 
tenacious of life'', is thought to be slow of growth 0 and 
does not reach any considerable size. In one or two 
lakes, according to report, it may become as large as 
a middling-sized perch. In the island-belt off the east 
of Sweden it never attains a greater length than 200 mm. 
The spawning-season lasts long and occurs at about 
the same time as that of the Perch, i. e. with us in 
May, but earlier to the South. It spawns in moderately 
deep water where the bottom is of sand or clay and 
overgrown with sedge. The roe is fine and yellowish, 
and is deposited among the sedge or on the sand at 
the bottom. It is very prolific; in one roe, which 
weighed about 11 grams, Bloch counted 75,600 eggs. 
In Sweden the Pope is one of the fishes not held 
in high esteem, and there is therefore no special mode 
of fishing for it. In certain places, however, it is taken 
both in nets and in seines. When it lives alone, it is 
taken on almost every kind of tackle, together with 
other fishes; thus it is often caught by the perch-fisher 
when the bait is allowed to sink fairly deep. In Swe- 
den it is only the peasants and poor people who know 
the value of the flesh of the Pope, which is firm, white, 
of good flavour, easy of digestion and free from small 
bones. The peasant calls the Pope food for a king’ 
( kungamat ), but it seldom appears on the tables of the 
rich. As bait for pike, burbot, etc., for all its tenacity 
of life, it is of very little use on account of its slug- 
gishness. 
Attempt has been made to blacken the character 
of this undeservedly despised fish still further and to 
add hatred to contempt, by the statement that it is 
guilty of devouring the roe of other fishes and small 
fry. These accusations are perhaps unfounded, at any 
rate they are not justified. The generality of fishermen 
believe that it frightens away all other fishes. This 
supposition may depend upon the circumstance that, 
when all other fishes, at the approach of a storm or 
from some other cause, withdraw from the shore to 
deep water, the Pope on account of its heedlessness 
and indifference remains and thus becomes the fisher- 
° Klein relates (see Bloch, Naturg. Fische Deutschl., II, p. 75) that at ODe haul of a winter seine in Frische-Haff an enormous 
quantity of pope and salmon-fry were taken: he declares that there were about 780 barrels. 
b According to Flemming (see Bloch, ibid., p. 77) it may be frozen stiff immediately upon its capture, and will still return to life 
if placed in cold water. 
c KkOyer {Damn. Fiske, I, p. 54) found that in the middle of September young specimens, which were thus about 4 months old, 
were from l l j 2 to 2 inches long. 
