2g6 
The Hijlory of ANIMALS. 
and Header: the pe&oral fins are fhort, and have each eleven rays; the ventral fins 
have five rays, the dorfal feven, and the pinna ani feven. 
It is frequent about the rivers and lakes in many parts of Germany; and, where the 
fihores are fandy, it will work it’s way under the fand to a great diftance from the 
pond, and is there dug up by the people, who know how to diftinguifh the places by 
certain figns, and thus take numbers of them. It has been miftaken, by moll au¬ 
thors, for a fpecies of the Muftela ; and, from this fingular circumftance of it’s being 
dug out of the fhores, has been called, by Gefner and others, Muftela fofiilis. Jonfton 
calls it Pifcis fofiilis; and Schoneveldt, Paecilia; the Germans call it Mifrurn or 
Fifgurn. & 
C Y P R I N U S. 
T H E mouth of the Cyprinus is totally fmooth ; but within the fauces there ftand, 
on the lower part, two hard and ferrated bones, which ferve in the place of 
teeth ; and in the upper part of the fauces, overagainft thefe, there is placed another 
bone, which is fmooth. The air-bladder is conftri&ed in the middle, as if it were tied 
with a thread; the branchioftege membrane has three bones on each fide. 
The two jaws are in moft fpecies pretty exadly of the fame length, but in fome the 
upper one is a little longer than the lower. 
Cyprinus iride , pinnis que ventris et ani plerumque rubentibus . 
The Cyprinus, with the iris and the belly fi?is ujually red. 
asoaci). 
The general length of this fifh, when full grown, is about nine inches, but there 
are waters in which it becomes confiderably larger; it’s more frequent fize is from two 
to four inches: the head is fmall, flatted on the upper part, and of a mixed olive and 
dufky colour: the back is fomewhat ridged in the anterior part, and convex lower 
down ; the belly is narrow and flat, except that the fpace between the ventral fins and 
the anus is a little contradled : the opening of the mouth is fmall ; the jaws are both 
of the fame length, but in the larger fifh the upper, when the mouth is fhut, appears 
a little longeft : the iris of the eye isufually red, but fometimes it is yellowifh, or of a 
filvery hue; but this principally in the young fifh : there are five teeth fituated within 
the fauces; the lateral line bends downward toward the belly : the fcales are large, 
glofty, and placed in a regular, imbricated manner; they are of a filvery white on the 
fides, but on the back they are of a dufkier colour. 
The branchiae are four on each fide, and have each a double feries of very minute 
tubercles: there is only one fin on the back, and this has thirteen rays; the two firft 
of thefe are undivided, the reft ramofe : the pedtoral fins are whitifh, and have each 
fifteen rays; the belly fins are red, but in the fmall fifh fometimes yellowifh; they 
have each nine rays: the pinna ani is alfo naturally red, but fometimes yellowifh; it 
has twelve or thirteen rays: the tail is of a pale colour, and is forked ; it has nineteen 
rays: the vertebra are forty-four. 
It is frequent in all our frefh waters; our rivers, brooks, lakes, and ponds, all 
abound with it. Willughby and others call it Rutilus, or Rubellus fluviatilis; Scho¬ 
neveldt, Rubellio and Rubiculus; Rondelitius, Phoxinus; the Germans, Rotang, Ro- 
tage, and Rotel; the Swedes, Mort. 
Cyprinus iride , pinnis omnibus, caudaque rubris. 
The Cyprmus , with the iris of the eye and all the 
fins and tail red,\ 
This is a large fpecies; it fomewhat refembles the roach, but it is narrower, in pro¬ 
portion to it’s length : it is, when full grown, ten inches in iength, and not more 
than three in breadth in the largeft part: the head is final! and convex on the upper 
fide; the opening of the mouth is fmall; the teeth ftand deep in the fauces, at the 
beginning of the ftomach : the opercula of the gills and the lateral line are crooked, 
and run parallel with the belly : when the mouth is open, the lower jaw appears 
fomewhat longer than the upper; but, when it is fhut, they are found to be both of a 
length : the iris of the eye is of an orange fcarlet; the branchis are four on each fide, 
2 and 
