THE ROACH. 
293 
The dace * haunts the fame places as the loach ; like 
it, too, it is a great breeder, very lively, and during 
fummer, fond of gamboling on the furface of the water. 
Its colour is a mixture of brown and yellow ; the fcales 
are fmaller than thofe of the roach ; the length of this 
fiih is l'eldom above ten inches. 
The graining is a fiih fo nearly refembling the dace, 
that perhaps it may be confidered merely as a variety: 
The ufual fize is from fix to eight inches ; it is caught 
in the Merfey near Warrington. 
’the Qold-fijh f. 
Phis fpecies was firft introduced into England from 
China, in 1691 ; and that fpecimen having been deftroy- 
ed, they were again imported about thirty years ago in 
a confiderable quantity. From that time they have mul- 
tiplied greatly in the neighbourhood of London, and from 
thence have been gradually difperfed over the reft of the 
kingdom, where they now breed as freely in the open 
water as the carp. 
The moft beautiful fpecies of thefe fifties are kept in 
China for the amufement of people of rank. They are 
confined in fmall porcelain veffeis, and placed in the 
courts to decorate the entrances of the houfes belonging 
P p a to 
* Cyprinus leucifeus, lan. Syft. 
| Cjrprinus Auratus, Lin, Syft. Kin-yu, Du Halde Ilift. Chii% 
I 
