24 
TENCH. 
The Tench has much of the shrewdness ascribed to the Carp, 
as well as a large portion of the animal senses possessed by that 
fish. It is also sensible to the impressions of cold, and we 
are informed that in the colder months it will work a hole in 
the mud to shelter itself, and there lie concealed, perhaps for 
a longer time than is jjlca-sing to itself, although fi’oin the 
power it possesses of extracting the minutest portions of air 
from almost exhausted water, it continues to live while other 
fishes must have perished. We are informed in a quotation 
from Johnson’s “Sportsman’s CyclopEcdia,” that at Thorn ville 
Royal, in Yorkshire, there was a pond that was to have been 
filled up, for which purpose wood and rubbish had been thrown 
into it for several yeai-s, so that it was almost choked up with 
mud and weeds. But in November, 1801, measures were taken 
to clear it out, in doing which, as very little water remained, 
no one ex^jected to see any fish, except perhaps a few eels. 
Yet, to their surj)rise there were found nearly two hundred 
brace of Tenches, of all sizes, and as many Perch. And after 
the pond was supjioscd to he quite free, under some roots there 
seemed to he an animal which was conjectured to he an Otter. 
The jilace was then surrounded, when on opening an entrance 
among the roots a Tench was found, of a most singular form, 
having literally assumed the shape of the hole in which he had 
for many years been confined. Its length from fork to eye was 
two feet nine inches; its circumference, almost to the tail, two 
feet three inches; the weight eleven pounds nine ounces and 
a quarter; the colour also was singular, the belly being that 
of a Char, or vermilion. This fish was examined by many 
gentlemen, and then carefully placed in the pond; but either 
Rom confinement, age, or bulk, it at first merely floated, and at 
last with difficulty swam gently away. 
This fish is not a native of the western counties of England, 
nor probably of Ireland or Scotland; but as, like the Carp, 
it is so retentive of life as to be conveyed easily to distant 
places, it is found at present in all these districts where situations 
can he found to suit its habits ; and it breeds readily where the 
soil and water are congenial to it, but indeed there only. It 
is of use to know that for the fertility of a pond the number 
of males ought to he double that of females, and it so happens 
that the sexes of this fish are readily to he distinguished by the 
