RIVER GARDENS; 
prison, and could not be removed till tbe roots were 
cut away. This singularly shaped creature was 
perfectly healthy, and remained so after being re¬ 
moved to an ordinary pond, where he continued to 
flourish at the time that Daniel wrote his account 
of the circumstance, which was some years after 
the removal of the monster Tench to his new abode. 
The Tench is a good table fish, but is sometimes 
unpleasantly flavoured by the presence in the pond 
of some rank weed. This kind of susceptibility is, 
however, very capricious; for occasionally Tench, 
which were positively stained black by the mud 
of the waters in which they have been bred, 
have been found perfectly sweet, while those taken 
in much more favourable situations have had a 
muddy or earthy taste, which is a very common 
objection to the flesh of the Tench. This forms no 
obstacle, however, to the adoption of the Tench as 
an inmate of the Aquarium, and only refers to his 
eligibility for the fryingpan or gridiron. 
The Doach, Leuciscus rutilus (Plate IV., No. 3), 
is a very pretty fish. His white scales glisten like 
silver, against which the bright red fins are seen to 
great advantage, giving him that bright, sparkling, 
healthy appearance which perhaps led to the 
saying, “as sound as a roach.” This may have 
58 
