541 
C Y P R 
body blue and filvery; lateral line arched towards the 
belly. Inhabits Carolina; defcribed by Dr. Garden. 
47. Cyprinus alburnus, the bleak. This fpecies is 
eafily diftinguilhed by the projection of the under jaw, 
and by twenty-one rays in the,anal fin. There are four¬ 
teen rays in the peftoral fin, nine in the ventral, eigh¬ 
teen in the tail, and ten in the dorfal. The head ends 
in a point; the forehead is flat, olive-coloured, with lit¬ 
tle black dots ; the cheeks are blue, the eyes large, with 
a blue pupil, and lilver iris. The body is coyered with 
final 1 lhining fcales, which eafily rub off; and they are 
ul'ed at Paris to give a polifli to factitious pearls. The 
fcales, when fcraped oft', are put into a vefl'el of clear 
water, where they are bruifed or pounded ; this opera¬ 
tion, which employs a great number of people, is re¬ 
peated in different waters till the fcales give no colour 
or ftain to tire water. The filvery matter finks to the 
bottom ; theSvater is then poured off', till there remains 
only a filvery liquid, which they call oriental effence. 
With this they mix a little ifinglafs ; then provide foine 
bits of hollow glafs, of a bluilh colour, into which they 
introduce, with a ftraw, a drop of the effence, which 
they work about to make the liquid fprqad over the 
whole inner furface. 
The back of this filh is nearly ftrait, and.of an olive co¬ 
lour ; the (ides are of a beautiful lhining filvev colour. It 
is broad towards the belly, but becomes narrower behind, 
and the lateral line is bent. The peCtoral fins are white 
with a fmall mixture of red ; the anal fin is grey, the 
dorfal and tail fins greenilh ; the dorfal fin is farther from 
the head than the ventral fins. The bleak is found in 
moft lakes and rivers on the continent. Its ufual length 
is four or five inches, though they fometimes grow to 
eight or ten inches. It is frequent in the Englilh ftreams, 
as well as thofe of the continent. According to Aufo- 
nius, the taking of thefe fillies was anciently the amufe- 
ment of children, as that of the minnow is at prefent. 
They are at forne feafons apparently feized with a difor- 
der, which feems to occalion them great agony: they are 
then feen tumbling about near the furfiace of the water, 
and are incapable of fwimming far from the place ; but 
in about two hours they recover and difappear. When 
thus affefted, the filhermen on the Thames call them 
mad bleaks. Pennant imagines, that they are then trou¬ 
bled with a fpecies of hair worm, which Ariftotle ob- 
ferved to infeft fome other kinds of fifh. This filh, when 
large, is well-tafted ; but, being full of bones, is not 
efteemed as food ; but at Strafburg their fcales are ufed 
in the fabrication of pearls. John Durr, fifh-merchant, 
burgher, and fenator, eftabliflied a fifhery all along the 
Rhine from the lake of Conffatice to the Low Countries; 
and he eftablilhed three places for correfpondence, name¬ 
ly, atWefel, Ruhrort, and Oxfey. A number of per- 
fons gain a livelihood by this manufactory : they take 
every day a certain quantity of thefe filh, and at night 
carry to the manufactory the fcales they have rubbed 
off, which operation is generally performed by children. 
Each filherman receives a certain fum per day, befides 
having the filh forhimfelf, which he falts and fells after¬ 
wards. The bleak is alfo found in Ruflia, in the Volga, 
and the rivers which run into it. The fpecies multiplies 
greatly; fpawning in May and June. They are devoured 
by the rapacious tribes, and by water-fowl; and are alfo 
ufed as a bait for larger filh. They have feven teeth, 
five in front, and two behind; fmall inteftinal worms are 
found in the ftomach. 
During the month of J une, there appears in the Thames, 
near Blackwall and Greenwich, a filh evidently of this 
genus, called the white bait. No naturalift has yet deter¬ 
mined to what particular filh it belongs, though all are 
agreed, that it is the young of fome fpecies that reforts 
there. Some have afcribed its origin to the lhad ; others 
to the fprat, the fmelt, and the bleak. Thefe filh, how- 
sver, are all found in other ftreams, while the white bait 
is peculiar to the river Thames. The white bait has a 
V01. V. No. 294. 
I N U S. 
greater fimilarity to the bleak than any other fifh; the 
number and difpofition of the fins are the fame ; and the 
body is comprelled on the (ides in the fame manner ; it 
has the lateral line ftrait, which Turton makes the diftin- 
guilhing mark of the variety. The ufual length of this 
Imall fpecies is two inches ; the dorfal fin is placed before 
the equilibrium ; fo that, when fufpended by it, the tail 
finks down. The tail is forked, and black on the tips. 
Thefe fmall fry are ufually caught for the purpofe of bait 
for other filh ; when fried with flour, they are reckoned 
a delicious viand by the lower order of epicures, who 
frequent the taverns contiguous to the places where they 
are taken. 
48. Cyprinus vimba, the virnba. This fpecies is known 
by the projection of the upper jaw, and by having twen¬ 
ty-four rays in the anal fin. The peCtoral fins have feven- 
teen rays, the ventral eleven, the tail tiveiity, the dorfal 
five. Theheadisfmall, and wedgc-lhaped; theupperjaw 
diminilhes as it projects beyond the under, and forms a 
fort of nofe. The aperture of the mouth is round; the 
eye is large, with abluifh pupil; iris ftraw-colour above, 
yellowilh below. The fcales are fmall in proportion to 
the fize of the filh. The back is lharp between the head 
and the fin ; the other part is round, bluilh, and a little 
bent. The lateral line forms a bend towards the belly, 
and is furnilhed with little yellow prickles. Above this 
line, the fides are bluilh ; below it, they are filvery. 
This is a migratory filh ; leaving the Baltic, or the bays 
of that fea, towards midfummer, and palling into the 
Oder, and thence into the Inna and the Varthe. There 
they feck for ftones walked by the ftream ; and againft 
thefe they rub themfelves and exclude their fpawn. This 
fifh grows to the length of a foot and a half, and weighs 
about a pound and a half; their eggs amount to near 
29,000, about the fize of poppy-feeds, the ovary weigh¬ 
ing three-quarters of$h ounce. They are taken in abun¬ 
dance, during fpawning-time, near Landfoerg on the ri¬ 
ver Varthe, and near Cuftrin : they will bite at a common 
earth-worm. At other times it is difficult to catch them. 
They increafe much, and are fond of clear ftreams with 
a ftony or fandy bottom. They live on plants and worms, 
like other filh of this genus. They grow (lowly, have 
little ftrength, and die foon after they are taken out of 
the water. The young ones are frequently deftroyed by 
the pike, trout, &cc. This fpecies is very plentiful in 
the Oder; they are caught in great numbers' near the 
village of Altkuftabiefe. This filhery, which is ufually 
performed in the night, lafts but three weeks, as after 
that time the fifh difappear. In Ruflia, in the rivers II- 
merfea, Wolchow, and Volga, and the ftreams that run 
into them, and the neighbouring lakes, they are caught 
in great numbers ; alfo about Novogorod, whence they 
are fent to Peterfburgh and Mofcow, after being falted 
and fmoked. The Ruffians call them guJI.era, kanio/t, and 
ferl. Its flefti is white and well-tafted ; and is eaten either 
frefti or pickled. The manner of curing them for ex¬ 
portation at Landfberg, where they are plenty, is as fol¬ 
lows : They are firft put on a fort of gridiron over a clear 
fire ; when half-broiled, they put them in barrels from 
five to eight deep, and cover them with laurel-leaves ; 
then they are fprinkled with cold vinegar, which has 
been boiled. About a dozen are put together in a calk, 
after they are pickled. This fifh has five teeth in each 
jaw, feventeen ribs on each fide, forty-two vertebrae in 
the fpine of the back, and two finuoficies in the intefti¬ 
nal canal. 
49. Cyprinus brama, the bream. This is diftinguilhed 
by its blackilh fins, and twenty-nine rays in the anal fin. 
There are feventeen rays in the pedtoral fins ; nine in 
the ventral, nineteen in the tail, twelve in the dorfal. 
The bream has a blunt head, the upper jaw a little pro¬ 
truded ; the front is dark blue, the cheeks blu'C in¬ 
clining to yellow. The pupil of the eye is black, iris 
pale yellow ; above which is a crefcent-fliaped black fpot. 
This filh, when at its full growth, is broad and thick ; 
6 Y the 
