136 
MALACOPTERYGII. 
about Killaloe (The Rev. C. Mayne and Mr. Marshall) ; streams about 
Tuam and Headfort (Mr. M‘Calla). 
“ These fish first appeared in the river Lagan in 1801, having ascended the 
canal from L. Neagh, where they have been inhabitants perhaps for centuries.” 
— Templeton’ s Catalogue. 
Mr. John Russell, jun., of Newforge, tells me that a bitch kept chain- 
ed near the “tail race” at Newforge bleach-green near the river Lagan, 
was in the habit when the water was low (about 9 ins. deep), the moment 
she was let loose, to go in search of gudgeons, which she caught and ate 
in quantities : he has often seen her do so — he thinks she may not have 
been very well fed. 
Three small fishes of equal size, being 1 inch 2 lines in length, taken 
by Mr. Hyndman and myself, on the 8th and 9th May, 1826, in the Lagan, 
appear to be of this species, as described in detail by Jenyns, but with 
the highest power of my lens I cannot distinguish any tentacula about 
the mouth of any of the three. 
These specimens were found resting on the bottom of shallows in the 
Lagan at Newforge ; their colour so assimilated to the bottom that even 
in bright sunshine, and the water clear and less than a foot deep, they 
could hardly be seen except when in motion. 
I have met with small specimens, each having a series of blackish spots 
along the middle of the sides, just as represented in the fig. in Cuv. and 
Yah, vol. xvi. pi. 481. 
The figures in the works of Donovan, Yarrell, &c., do not exhibit any 
spots, nor, indeed, do full-grown specimens of the fish in my collection. 
The Tench, Tinea vulgaris , Cuv., 
Is probably, like the carp, a fish introduced to the British Islands. I 
have notes of its existence at the following localities — Ponds at Purdys- 
burn and Montalto, County Down (Mr. J. Sinclaire) ; Counties of Dublin 
and Cork (Dr. Ball) ; Lakes of Westmeath (Newenham) ; Lough Derg, 
near Portumna (Mr. John J. Marshall). 
“ Tench , Cyp. Tinea. Many were caught in the river Lagan, after the 
breaking of the bank of a pond in the demesne of Lord Dungannon at 
Belvoir .” — Templeton MS. [No date.] 
The Bream, Abramis Urania, Cuv., 
Inhabits many of the Irish lakes and slow rivers. 
Dubourdien mentions this species, and Templeton remarks that in L, 
Erne breams are particularly abundant. I have been informed by Lord 
Enniskillen that they attain a great size in the lakes of that quarter. 
March 12, 1835. — James Ward, of Lagan Cottage, mentioned to me 
that the way in which the bream is taken with the greatest success is by 
balls of grains from distilleries, seeds (cast off from flummery) or boiled 
oats being mixed up with potatoes in the form of balls, and thrown into 
the river at night. Bream, being partial to such food, collect from all 
quarters to partake of it, which the fishers take advantage of by the break 
of day on the following morning, and, baiting their hooks with worms, 
catch in great numbers the fish thus collected together. This method 
was, he says, introduced in his neighbourhood by persons who had been 
in the habit of thus fishing in the County Fermanagh, about L. Erne. 
Ward says there were no breams in the Lagan twenty years ago, which 
I have before heard stated on good authority. 
The same informant told me in August, 1843, that the quantity of breams 
