484 Fishes. 
summer evenings on the surface of rivers in chase of flies, 
bread-crumbs, &c. The scales are employed in making 
artificial pearls. 
THE BREAM, (Cyprinus Brama,) 
Is a flattish fish, not unlike the carp in several points, but 
much broader in proportion to its length and thickness. 
Its head is truncated, the upper jaw a little projecting; 
the forehead a bluish black ; cheeks yellowish ; body 
olive, paler below ; fins obscure, with an oblong conical 
process at the base of the ventral fins ; twenty-nine rays 
in the anal fin ; its greatest length is about two feet. 
The scales are large, and of a bright colour ; the tail has 
the form of a crescent. It frequents the deepest parts 
of rivers, lakes, and ponds. These fish spawn in May, 
secluding themselves at that time so carefully in the 
ooze at the bottom of the water that they are seldom 
found with either soft or hard roe in them, so that in 
some countries the name is often used to denote sterility. 
The flesh is not comparable to that of the carp. 
The White Bream never exceeds a pound in weight, 
and is consequently much smaller than the Common 
or Carp Bream, which frequently weighs seven or eight 
pounds. 
In some of the lakes of Ireland great quantities of 
Bream are taken, many of them of very large size, some- 
times weighing as much as twelve or even fourteen pounds 
