272 
NATURAL HISTORY 
and lies quiet under the cooling shade of some trees that 
spread their foliage on the verdant hanks; but yet, though 
it seems to indulge itself in slumbers, the fear of danger, 
that innate sense of self-preservation, one of the first 
laws of nature, keeps the creature awake, and at the 
least alarm it ^dives with rapidity to the bottom. It 
lives on all sorts of insects; in March and April, the 
chub is to be caught with large red worms; in June and 
July with flies, snails and cherries; but in August and 
September, the proper bait is good cheese pounded in a 
mortar, with some saffron and a little butter. Some 
make a paste of cheese and Venice turpentine for the 
chub in water, at which season this fish is much better 
than at any other, the bones are less troublesome, being 
more easily separated from the flesh in this season, and 
the flesh more firm and better tasted; the roe is also well 
flavoured in general. If the angler keeps his bait at the 
bottom in cold weather, and near the surface in the hot 
season, the fish is sure to bite soon, and will afford 
much pleasing sport. 
The ancient naturalists have enumerated five varieties 
of this fish; some of which are found in the Danube and 
the Rhine. The above species inhabits most of the 
rivers in Great Britain. 
Parrot Fish. ( Cyp . PI. 47.) The head ef this 
fish is somewhat similar to the carp. The body is broad, 
the tail narrow. The ground colour is red, which is 
beautifully relieved by broad silvery stripes all along the 
body; the belly is white. The fins are small; the scales 
broad, thin, finely radiated, and very loose. The pec- 
toral, tail, and ventral fins, are yellow at their origin, 
and gray at the extremeties; and a kind of spine runs 
along the root of the ventral fin. 
This species is found in both Indies; it takes its name 
from the Isle of St. Croix at the Antilles, from whence 
a specimen of it was received. 
Gold-Fish. {Cyp. PI. 47.) These fish are esteemed 
the most elegant of all the finny tribe. The male is of a 
bright red colour from the top of the head to the middle 
of the body; the rest is of a gold colour, but it is so 
