532 0 Y P R 
temperature of-the country through which it flows; while 
that of the fea is of a much more equal heat in different 
latitudes; and hence we find fea fifti travelling into a 
greater variety of latitudes than thole of frefh water. 
In fpring the gudgeon quits the lakes to mount the 
dreams of the rivers ; and there they depofit their fpawn 
ugainft the ftones, not all at once, but by degrees; the 
fpawning time ufually lads a month. In autumn they 
return to the lakes, where they are taken in great num¬ 
bers in September and Oftober. They are then fo cheap, 
elpecially in Pomerania, that, according to Richter, lix 
.perfons may be fed for about two-pence. They are alfo 
taken in the rivers of Rullia and Siberia. Though con¬ 
tinually expofed to the purfuits of man, to rapacious fifh, 
and water-fowl, they multiply very fait; to which its 
dow manner of 1 'paWning in a great lheafure contributes. 
The eggs are of a clear blue colour, and fo final 1 , that 
it is impoflible to count them. There are five teeth in 
each jaw; but they are fo final 1, that in a filh of four 
inches long, they are hardly vilible to the eye. They 
live on weeds, worms, and young fpawn ; and are fond 
alfo of ox’s brains ; if any be thrown into the water, they 
alfemble in fhoals. It is laid they love human fiefh ; but 
this is not an edublifhed faff. They are fond of fociety, 
and are generally found in llioals, 
4- Cyprinus tinea, the tench. The tench is diftin- 
guifhed by the fmall feales which cover its body, which 
Richter reckons to be 30,009 in number, and by its dark 
thick fins; body mucous, cirri two. The p eft oral fin has 
eighteen rays, the ventrals nine, the anal twenty-five, 
the tail nineteen, and the dorfal twelve* The head is 
large, the front broad, and of a deep green; the eye 
fmall, black pupil, iris gold-colour. The bread is white; 
jaws of equal length, with lips as drong as thofe of the 
carp; and in eating they make a noife like the carp. The 
back is round, of a deep green, and forms a dackened 
bow. The (ides, as far as the lateral line, are of a clearer 
green; below this, yellow ; and on the belly, whitifh. 
Some, however, have the belly black, and others green; 
for there is no fifh on which the nature of the water has 
more influence than on this. The males differ alfo from 
the females, both in colour and tade; the males are of a 
.brighter colour, and their fiefh is fatter and better; their 
ventral fins are larger, and the bones are dronger; and 
©n the continent they go by different names. The fins 
are drong, and of a violet colour; that of the tail is 
rounded at the corners, and drait towards the middle. 
In no fifh are the bones to which the peftoral and ventral 
fins are fattened fo drong as in this. The whole body is 
covered with a thick vifeous matter, which makes it flip 
through the hand like an eel; under this matter lie the 
feales, which do not appear till that is taken away; they 
are drongly attached to a black fkin, covering white fiefh. 
This fifh loves ftagnated or gently-running water, and 
is found in.mod lakes and marfhes ; although it is taken 
in the Tiber, a pretty rapid dream, it feems to have mi¬ 
grated there from the adjoining lakes. It is now natu- 
ralifed in England, where it has been imported from its 
native lakes in the fouth of Europe. We have already 
noticed with regret, that the ingenuity of man has made 
io little progrel's in the domedication of fidtes; this and 
the carp being the only fpecies of near five hundred, that 
have been brought into that date. There is faid to exid 
a wonderful friendfhip between this animal and the pike, 
a fifh which, though it devours every other, will not 
offer violence to the tench, on account of its healing qua¬ 
lity. It has hence been called the phyfician of the fifh ; 
the (lime cf its fkin being of a healing nature, an in¬ 
habitant of the water is no former wounded, than the 
phyfician is at hand with a powerful fiyptic : 
Clofc to his feales the kind phyfician glides, 
And fweats a healing balfam from his fides. 
The Jews pruftifing phyfic at Rome, are fa.id to apply 
the half of a tench, after being cut up, to the foies of the 
I N U S. 
feet, when their patients arc feized with violent fevers ; 
we believe, however, that the medical virtues of this filh, 
either while dead or alive, never exifled but in the ima¬ 
ginations of the ignorant and credulous. Other dories 
equally aWurd have been raifed about this filh ; Inch as, 
that it is generated from llime or mud, and that the fe¬ 
males have the mendrual flux. The tench fpawns in 
fpring, and in. the beginning of fummer ; it is fuperior in 
fertility to the carp, near 400,000 ova having been num¬ 
bered in a Angle roe. The young fry are remarkably 
quick in their growth ; a circumdance the more credible, 
becaufe they devour mucus and every kind of filth with 
avidity. The molt proper bait for them is fmall earth¬ 
worms : according to the prefent fafhion of eating, they 
are deemed wholefome and delicious food; but there 
have been various and contradiftory opinions on the qua¬ 
lities of this fifh as food : the Romans defpifed it; only 
the poor ate of it, as may be feen in AuTonilis. In Con¬ 
gou it is reckoned a great delicacy, and is only eaten at 
court; in that miferable government, it is death for any 
one to draw up a tench, unlefs he carries it to the royal 
kitchen. In Germany it is not much liked; in Livonia 
dill lefs, having received the name of fckumacker (fhoe- 
maker) by way of derifion. Willoughby mentions the in- 
falubrity of this filh, on account of which, it was unani- 
moufly condemned by the medical people- of his time ; 
he denies, however, that it is ungrateful to the tade; 
poflerity have been of the fame opinion, and have grati¬ 
fied their palates with it, without feeling any bad effects. 
This fpecies is found in mod of the rivers and lakes of 
Rullia and Siberia. They are a hardy fifh. In fummer 
they can live in any dagnant water; and in winter they 
will remain under the ice without there being any necel'- 
fity to make holes to give them air. Bergen maintains, 
that the tench deep all tlie winter. When well fed, they 
grow to the weight of (even or eight pounds. In fine 
weather, they take great leaps above the water. Its ene¬ 
mies, while young, are the perch and the pike, (unlefs 
we choofe to believe the dory of its healing qualities;) 
but it frequently efcapes by hiding*Itfelf in the mud. 
A piece of water at Thorn ville Royal, York (hire, which, 
for feveral years, had been ordered to be filled up, and 
for which purpofe logs of wood, roots of trees, rubbifh, 
Sc c. had been thrown into it, lately being found ufeful, 
the deward was ordered to clear it out in November i8or. 
Perfons were accordingly employed, and, though almoft 
choaked up by weeds and mud, fo that little water re¬ 
mained, and no perfon conceived any fifh, except poffibly 
a few large eels, would be found, yet about two hundred 
brace of tench, of all fizes, and as many perch, were 
found; about ten brace of which were from three to four 
pounds weight each. After the pond was thought to be 
quite free, under fome roots there feemed to be fome 
animal, which was conceived to be an otter : the place 
was furrounded ; and, on opening an entrance among the 
roots, a tench was found of mod extraordinary form, hav¬ 
ing literally aflumed the fhape of the hole, in which he 
had, of courle, for many, many years been confined. His 
form was an irregular femicircle ; his length, from fork 
to eye, was two feet nine inches; his circumference, to 
almoft the tail, was two feet three inches; his weight, 
eleven pounds nine ounces ; his colour was alfo lingular, 
as his belly was the colour of Vermillion. This extra¬ 
ordinary fifh, there being a fculptor in the houfe, was 
fketched, and a model taken of it. After having been 
(hewn to many fporting men, it was carefully put into 
a pond; but either from confinement, or age, or bulk, 
it only floated, and with difficulty, at laft, fwam gently 
along. It was alive and well when this account, was 
taken,, at the end of the year 1801. 
With regard to internal conformation, this fifh differs 
from others of the fame genus, in having in each jaw 
four fhort broad teeth in each jaw, fixteen ribs on each 
lide, and thirty-nine vertebrae. The ova is green, and 
very fmalL 
The 
