The Hifiory ^ANIMAL S, 
Cyprinus mucofius tot us purpuro-nigreficens cauda cequali < 
"The purplijh-blacky mucous Cyprinus , with an even taih 
This fometimes grows to an immoderately large fize, but a moderately grown fifh 
of it is ten or eleven inches in length; it’s breadth, with this length, is about threg 
inches, aiid it’s thicknefs more than two : the head is fmall, and the opening of the 
mouth, in the full grown ones, will admit the end of a man’s finger: there are no 
teeth in the jaws, but there are five on each fide deep within the fauces 5 the coverings 
of the gills are compofed of four laminae and three curvated bones 5 the lateral line is 
crooked, and runs near the belly; there #re many little foramina, forming a kind of 
irregular lines, on the furface of the head : the eyes are fmall, and their iris is red j 
the "apertures of the gills are lefs open, than in the generality of thefe fifh: the gills 
are four on each fide, and each has a double feries of pediniform nodi: the back rifes 
into a rounded form, and is not ridged, as in fome of this genus 5 the belly is flat and 
brOad : the fcales are Very fmall, and are of an oblong figure 5 they adhere very clofely 
to the body of the fifh, and are on the back black, and on the fides of a purplifh, or 
fometimes a yellowifh, colour, mixed with black; the belly has a whitifh tinge, but 
there is fo much of the black diffufed on every part of it, that the general colour is 
that: the fcales of this fifh are externally covered with a thick, mucous matter, fo 
that the fifh is flippery in the manner of an eel: the fins are all blackifh, as is alfo the 
tail * the pe&oral fins are roundifh, and have feventeen rays 5 the belly fins are alfo 
rounded at the end, and have eleven rays; there is only one fin on the back, which 
has twelve rays, and the pinna ani has eleven : the tail is not forked but even, and has 
nineteen rays. 
We have this in {landing foul waters, in large ditches and fenny ponds. The an- 
tients called it Phulon, Trulla, and Gnapheus j the moderns, Tinea and Tenca 5 and 
fome of them, Phycis fluviatilis and Merula; the Germans, Schleg. 
Cyprinus oblongus maxilla fuperiore longiore , cirris quatuor 3 
pinna ani ojjiculorum feptem* 
The obloftg Cyprinus , with the upper jaw longejl , and with j!&$thCh 
four beards . 
This is a large fpecies, a moderately grown fifh of it being near a foot in length : 
it is not fo broad, in proportion to it*s length, as the tench or carp, but rounder-bo- 
died : the head is large, and the back part of it high, whence it Hants off to the ex¬ 
tremity, where it is fharp 5 the upper jaw is longer than the under, and there are four 
white, flefhy, fiender beards: the eyes are moderately large ; the back is elevated and 
ridged ; the lateral line runs down the middle of the fide ; the belly is flat, and fome- 
what broad, and, when the fifh is laid on it, the mouth touches the ground: the tail 
is forked. 
It is frequent in our large rivers 5 we frequently catch it in the Thames of three or 
four pounds weight, but fome are feven or eight pounds. The antient as well as mo¬ 
dern writers have called it Barbus and Barbulus; fome Barbo, Barbatulus, Mugii 
barbatus, Muilus fluviatilis, and Muflus fluviatilis j the Germans call it a Barbe and 
Barbie. 
Cyprinus quincuncialis pinna ani ojftculorum viginti . 
T*he five-inch Cyprinus , with twenty rays in the pimia a?ii . 
25iea». 
This is one of the fmaller fpecies, but it is a very pretty fifh; it rarely grows to a 
larger fize than is exprefled in it’s name : the greater number caught are but three or 
four inches, and it is moderately broad, in proportion to it’s length, but has not much 
thicknefs: the head is fmall and fomewhat acute; the mouth is moderately large, 
and, when it is open, the under jaw is fomewhat longer than the upper: the eyes are 
large, and their iris is of a filvery white in the lower part, but in the upper there is 
fomewhat of a yellowifh tinge in it: the branchiae are four on each, and the teeth are 
not placed in the jaws, but deep in the fauces: the fcales are large, and placed in an 
H h h imbricated 
