2o8 
The Hifiory of ANIMALS. 
Cyprinus pinnis omnibus nigrefcentibus , pinna ani offtculorum 
viginti feptem . 
The Cyprinus , w/V/6 all the fins blacky and with twenty fieven 
rays in that of the tail , 
Brea m* 
This is a confiderably large fpecies, and is much broader, in proportion to it's 
length, than any of the others: a well-grown Bream is twelve or fourteen inches long, 
and the body is flat and thin, though very broad : the back is raifed into a fharp ridge 
in the anterior part, but lower [down it is more rounded • the belly, in it’s anterior 
part, is flat, but, from the ventral fins to the anus, it is contracted into a fharp ridge: 
the head is fhort, thick, and obtufe : the mouth is to be opened by prefiing the lower 
jaw, and the upper is then feen coming, as it were, out of a cafe: when the mouth 
is fhut, the upper jaw appears fomewhat the longer 5 the mouth is roundifh and 
fmall; the eyes are round, and ftand at the two fides of the head : the pupil is round ; 
the iris is ufually in general filvery, but it is fometimes tinged in part with yellowifh 
or red : the coverings of the gills are alfo of a filvery colour, mixed with fome yellow, 
and fome reddifh: there are certain duds or foramina, which form lines on each fide 
above the noftrils, as alfo on the lower jaw under the eyes: the branchke are four on 
each fide, and each has a double feries of unguiform tubercles : the noftrils ftand nearer 
to the eyes than the extremity of the roftrum; the teeth are five, and are fituated in 
the fauces: the branchioftege membrane and the lateral line are crooked, and nearer 
the belly than the back 
The fcales are large, and are placed in a regularly imbricated manner; they are of a 
filvery white on the belly, with fome faint admixture of red, and on the fides they 
are filvery, but with a tinge of yellowilh or greenifh j on the back they are of a dulky 
colour, but they have ftill fomewhat filvery even there; the opening of the mouth is 
large; in the full grown fifh it will eafily take in a man’s thumb. 
The fins are all of a blackifti colour, with an admixture of greyifh : the pedoral 
fins are greyifh toward their origin, and black at the extremity 5 thefe have feventeen 
rays each : the ventral fins are alfo whitifh juft at the bafe, but black in every other 
part j they have each nine rays: the back fin is throughout of a greyifh-black, and 
has fourteen rays; and the pinna ani is black throughout, and has twenty-feven rays: 
the tail is very forked j it is of a greyifh-black, and has nineteen long rays j the ver¬ 
tebras are twenty-four, and the long ribs are fifteen on each fide. 
It is very common in our frefli waters, particularly in large rivers. Aldrovand and 
Jonfton call it Cyprinus latus j Bellonius and Charleton, Abramus j others, Brafmus, 
Prafmus, and Brefma ; the Germans are fond of it at their tables; we efteem it a very 
poor and coarfe fifh. 
Cyprinus oblongus ?nacrolepidotus , pinna ani offtculorum un- 
decim . 
The oblong Cyprinus , with large fcales, and eleven rays in 
the pinna ani . 
%\je 
Cijtib. 
This is fomewhat of the general figure of the carp, but narrower and thinner, in 
proportion to it’s length: a well-grown fifh of this fpecies is a foot long : the head is 
large ; the opening of the mouth wide; the upper jaw a little longer than the under : 
the fcales are very large and beautiful, and are of an angular figure : the tail is forked ; 
the back fin has nine rays; the pinna ani eleven : all the fins are bluifh, and the iris 
of the eye is of a mixed filvery and yellow colour : the lateral lines run parallel with 
the belly. 
It is common in ouf rivers, particularly in deep holes worn by the currents, and un¬ 
der the flumps of trees growing on the banks. Varro and Columella call it Squalus $ 
Pliny, Squalius $ the more modern writers, Cephalus and Capito, and Cephalus fluvia- 
tilis 1 fome, Dobula; the Germans call it Alet, 
Cyprinus 
