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THE ROACH. 
The Bream is mostly found in rather large lakes or in slowly running rivers. Although 
the flesh of the Bream is not held in any great estimation, being poorly flavored and very full 
of bones, so that, in spite of the great depth of its body, there is scarcely sufficient flesh to 
repay the trouble of cooking, still, the fish was formerly in much repute as a delicacy ; so 
that either the fish seems to have deteriorated, or the present generation to have become more 
fastidious. Spring and autumn furnish the best Bream, and the flesh can be dried something 
like that of the cod-fish. 
The color of the Bream is yellowish-white, except the cheeks and gill-covers, which have 
a. silvery lustre without any tinge of yellow. Sometimes the Bream attains a considerable 
size, reaching a weight of twelve or fourteen pounds. 
LING . — Lota vulgaris. SLY SILURUS . — SUurus giants. (One-quarter natural size.) 
The Roach is a fish especially dear to scientific anglers, on account of its capricious 
habits, and the delicate skill required to form a successful Roach -fisher. 
An angler accomplished in this art will catch Roach where no one without special experi- 
ence would have a chance of a bite, and will succeed in his beloved sport through almost every 
season of the year, the winter months being the favorites. So capricious are these fish, and so 
sensitive to the least change of weather, that a single hour will suffice to put them off their 
feed, and the angler may be suddenly checked in the midst of his sport by an adverse breeze 
or change in the temperature. 
The Roach is a gregarious fish, swimming in shoals, and keeping tolerably close to each 
other. It is not a large species, all over a pound being considered as fine specimens, and any 
that weigh more than two pounds are thought rare. It is a pretty fish, the upper parts of the 
