yellow mingled with green. The eyes are (mail, pupil 
yellow, iris iilver edged with gold. The noftrils are 
nearer to the eyes than to the mouth. Though this filh 
be broader than the red of the genus, it is not lefs thick, 
and is covered with fcales. The fides are greenilh to¬ 
wards the back, yellowifii towards the belly. The back 
is arched, of a dark brown, tapering towards the fin, 
rounded below. The belly is white mingled with red. 
The pectoral fins are of a violet colour; the others are 
yellowifii edged with grey. 
The crucian loves a marly or clayey bottom; and is 
only found in ponds and fmall lakes; it is known in the 
fifh-ponds about London and in the fouth of England, 
but is probably not a native of this country. They 
are found in Norway : Pontoppidan airerts, that very 
large ones arc taken out of a lake on a mountain three 
leagues high, near the parifli of Lolm in the didrift of 
Guldbranfdalin. 
Bloch fays, “the flefii is white, tender, and, having not 
many fmall bones, is much edeemed ; and, as it is not tat, 
it furniflies a wholefome nourifhment for weak and fickly 
perfons ; and it is reckoned a dainty at the tables of the 
rich.” In England, however, it is little edeemed as an 
article of food. 
It is remarkable that the crucian, when put into water 
with a muddy bottom, does not acquire a bad tafte fo 
foon as the pike, perch, and others. It is very tenacious 
of life, and will live long out of water, efpecially in win¬ 
ter, fo that it may be eafily tranfported in fnow, covered 
with cabbage or lettuce leaves. One advantage it offers 
to the breeders of fifh, efpecially in thofe countries where 
fifh are fcarce, that it will thrive well even in dagnaat 
waters. They live upon mud, plants, and worms; 
which nourifhment being nearly the fame as that of carps, 
they (hould not be bred in carp-ponds, led they dedroy 
too much of the food of that more valuable fifh. The 
crucian ferdom weighs more than half-a-pound, and is 
(low in acquiring even this growth ; Tometimes indeed 
they weigh a pound and more. The water-fowl and all 
the voracious fifh are its enemies. To increafe and fat¬ 
ten them, they fltould be fed ^only with pounded hemp- 
feed, fheep’s-dung, and dried peafe and beans. Each 
jaw is furniflted with five broad teeth; the intedinal ca¬ 
nal has five finuofities; the vertebrae are thirty in num¬ 
ber, and the ribs fifteen on each fide. In the ovaries 
have been counted 93,700 yellowifii eggs of the fize of 
poppy-feed. They fpawn in May ; fometimes in April, 
when the feafon is warm; and they begin to fpawn at 
the age of two years. 
12. Cyprinus gibelio, the fliort crucian. This is one 
of the broad carps; its fpecific charafter is, the tail hol¬ 
lowed out into the form of a half-moon, and nineteen 
rays in the dorfal fin. There are fifteen rays in the pec¬ 
toral fins, nine in the ventral, eight in the anal, and 
twenty in the tail. The head is large, brown above, 
and yellowifii brown on the fides, and near the throat. 
The jaws are equal ; mouth the fame fliape as that of 
the carp, and noflrils near the eyes. The eyes are large ; 
pupil black, iris gold-yellow. Body broad, lengthened, 
and covered with large fcales, even on the belly, which 
has only fmall ones in the other fpecies. The fides are 
of a greenilh blue above, and gold-yellow below; but 
there are fome whole whole body is black; this arifes 
from the nature of the water in which they are bred, 
which, as remarked before, occafions many variations in 
the colour, &c. of fifhes. The back is arched, and 
blue ; and the dorfal fin is nearer to the head than the 
vcntrals. The lateral line is marked’with brown dots, 
"and bends towards the belly. The fins are yellow, ex¬ 
cept that of the tail which is grey; and the extremity 
of the rays is divided into eight branches. 
This fifh increafes very fad; they fpawn, from three 
years of age, in May, June, and July ; but each does not 
l’pawn three times, as is generally fup poled ; the time 
differs according to their age ; the old fpawn earlier than 
I N U S. 
the young ones. Providence, whofc infinite wifdom has 
provided for the prefervation of all its creatures, has 
given very large ovaries to this fpecies: one which was 
examined in January, when the eggs are as yet very 
fmall, had an ovary weighing five ounces, though the 
whole fifh weighed no more than fifteen; and we may 
with confidence fay, that it contained 300,000 eggs, an 
immenfe quantity for one year. But, when we confider 
that this fifh only lives in fmall lakes and marflies, where 
it is expofed to be devoured not only by dorks, herons, 
geefe, crows, and magpies, but alfo by frogs, we fliall 
acknowledge that the precaution of nature in thus pro¬ 
viding for their increafe, is by no means fuperfiuous. 
When fmall, they much refemble the young carps; and, 
in buying the dock to put into ponds, care mud be 
taken not to get the young of this fpecies indead, as they 
are of much lefs value than real carps. This fpecies 
will not bite at a hook, therefore can only be taken with 
nets and fnares. Theie fifhes may be eafily tranfported 
in grafs or green leaves; they will live even in dagnant 
water, though expofed to the fun, becaufe during the 
great heats they dielter themfelves in the mud. During 
winter they live under the ice, provided there be a few 
inches of water. They thriye in all quiet waters; and 
have this advantage over other fifh, that they do not 
contraft an ill fade from the mud. They may be put 
into dreams, marflies, and all kinds of muddy waters. 
The fledi is tender, has not many bones, and is not un- 
wholefome for fick people. 
This fpecies has eight fharp teeth in two rows; the in¬ 
tedinal canal has two finuofities, the vertebrae are twen- 
ty-feven, the ribs feventeen on eacli fide. It is found in 
Pomerania, Prullia, Silefia, and many other parts of Ger¬ 
many ; alfo in all the frefli-water lakes, muddy places, 
rivers, and dreams, of Ruffia and Siberia, as well as in 
the falt-water lakes, where they are fifhed up in immenfe 
quantities in the fummer; they take out the entrails, 
and dry them in the air without fait, in which date they 
are tiled by the Tartars for winter food. 
13. Cyprinus fericeus, the fmall crucian: dorfal fin 
with ten rays, anal eleven ; tail reddidi-brovvn. Inhabits 
in great plenty the flow and dagnant waters of Dauuria ; 
one and an half inch long ; body fhaped like the crucian, 
beautifully diining with filvery-bluifh or pale violet, to¬ 
wards the belly pale roly, with a broad greenHh-blue 
dripe on each fide. Iris lilvery, witli a carmine patch 
above the pupil; ventral and anal fins cinnabar, tipt with 
black. 
14. Cyprinus cephalus, the chub: anal fin eleven- 
rayed, body nearly cylindrical. There are eleven rays 
in the dorfal fin, fixteen in the peftorals, nine in the 
ventrals, and feventeen in the tail. There are five va¬ 
rieties of this fifh enumerated by Willoughby, after the 
ancient naturalids ; fome of which are .found in the Da¬ 
nube and the Rhine. That fifh known in the Englifh 
rivers does not grow to a large fize, feldorn exceeding 
five pounds. The chub is a very coarfe fifh, and full of 
bones ; it frequents the deep holes of rivers, and, during 
fummer, commonly lies on the furface, beneath the fhadc 
of a tree or budi. It is a very timid fifii, linking to the 
bottom on the fmalled alarm, even at the pafiing of a 
fhadow, but foon refumes its fituation. It rifes to a 
common trout fly, and feeds on worms, caterpillars, 
gradioppers, and other coleopterous infefts, that happen 
to fall into the water. The body is longer than that of 
the carp ; the head flattened ; the back of a dufky 
green ; the fides and belly lilvery, with a fbade of a gold 
colour, if the fifh be old and in high feafon. The fcales 
are remarkably large and angular, like thofe of the carp ; 
the mouth is of a moderate fize, round when the jaws 
are opened, and wholly dellitute of teeth. The number 
and difpofition of the fins refemble thofe of the other 
fifii belonging to. this genus ; the tail is a little forked, 
though dated in the Muf. Ad. Fr. to be rounded. 
III. Tail trifid, 15. Cyprinus auratus, the gold-fifh; 
commonly 
