OF FISH. 
27i 
breadth and shape of its scales, which are large and de- 
ciduous. The soundness of the flesh is become pro- 
verbial, and pleases the taste by a peculiar delicacy of 
flavour. The belly-fins are of a bright crimson, and the 
irides of the eyes sparkle like rubies and granate. The 
size of the roach is commonly between nine and ten 
inches, but attains sometimes a greater bulk. 
Perch. This fish seldom grows to any great size, 
and the largest of which we have any account is said to 
have weighed nine pounds. The body is deep, the 
scales rough, the back arched, and the side lines placed 
near the back. For beauty of colour, the Perch nearly 
equals the gaudiest of the inhabitants of the ponds, lakes, 
and rivers; the back glows with the deep reflections of 
the brightest emerald, divided by five broad stripes; the 
belly imitates the tints of the opal and mother of pearl, 
and the ruby hues of the fins complete an assemblage of 
colours most harmonious and elegant. It is a grega- 
rious fish, and is caught in several rivers of this island; 
the flesh is firm, delicate, and much esteemed. They 
are generally boiled in wine or vinegar, which adds a 
considerable solidity and flavour to the flesh. 
These animals are remarkably tenacious of life; and 
some of them, particularly the river-perch, have been 
carried sixty miles among straw, and have survived the 
journey. From the ease with which this fish is taken 
and transported, it has become the most common inhabi- 
tant of our fish-ponds. 
Chub. (6 yp, PI. 47.) The chub is of a coarse 
_ nature, and full of bones; it seldom exceeds the weight 
of five pounds. The body is of an oblong shape nearly 
round; the head, which is large, and the back* are of a 
deep dusky green, the sides silvery, and the belly white; 
the pectoral fins are of a pale yellow, the ventral and 
anal ones red; and the tail brown, tinged with blue at 
its extremety, and slightly forked. This fish frequents 
the deep holes of rivers, but in the summer season, 
when the sun shoots his golden darts through the pel- 
lucid waters, to the smooth and resplendent pebbles 
that pave the bed of the stream, it ascends to the surface 
