542 
s. 
C Y P R 
the young ones, on the contrary, are narrow and long. 
They are covered with large fcales ; the back is blackifh, 
fharp, and refenibles a bow on the ftretch. The lateral 
line is curved towards tiie belly, and ornamented with 
about fifty black fpots. The colour of the Tides is a mix¬ 
ture of yellow, white, and black. The peftoral fins are 
violet-coloured above, yellow below, and blackifh to¬ 
wards the extremities. The ventrals have a violet ground; 
and above there is a ventral appendage not found in the 
other broad carps. The anal fin is grey in the middle, 
blackifh at the edges; the tail-fin, which is bifurcated, 
is of a deep blue : the dorfal is of the fame colour, and 
farther from the head than the ventrals. 
This fifh is an article of great importance on the con¬ 
tinent. It it found in all the great lakes, and in rivers 
which have a gentle current, and a bottom compofed of 
marl, clay, and herbage. It is taken rnoftly under the 
ice ; and this fifhery is fo confiderable, that in fome of 
the lakes belonging to Pruffia, there have been taken at 
one time to the value of 3*, 3, and 700 crowns; they are 
alfo caught in great quantities in Holftein, Mecklenberg, 
Livonia, and Sweden : in a lake near Nordkioeping, 
there were taken at one time, in March, 1749, no lefs 
than 50,000, weighing 18,200 pounds. 
The bream may be taken with divers kinds of nets in 
fpawning-time; and, being fond of worms, they will 
readily take a bait, fo that, where they are plenty, a 
dozen may be taken in a quarter of an hour, by angling. 
M. Taube, phyfician at the court of Zell, defcribes the 
manner in which they are fiflied for in that country, a3 
follows : in the month of Auguft, and in clear weather, 
the fifhermen in a boat row as fait as they can, while 
fome of their number beat a drum ; two others, on op- 
pofite tides of the river, agitate the water with large 
(licks, and thus drive the fill), who are ealily feared by 
a noife, to a certain part of the river, where others have 
already fpread their nets ; and thus they take a great 
quantity. This fpecies is found in all the great lakes 
and rivers of Ruffia. According to Beckman, there 
were taken in the Uker in 1737, many hundred of them, 
weighing from eighteen to twenty pounds each. Sir 
James Cal well, it is faid, caught in one day, near Bally- 
hannon, 17 cwt. of breams and pikes. 
The bream grows commonly a foot, or a foot and a 
half long, weighing twelve or fourteen pounds, fome- 
times twenty. In the lakes of Italy it is faid to attain 
the length of three feet, and two in breadth. They ge¬ 
nerally remain at the bottom of tire water, where they 
feed upon weeds, worms, and mud. In the fpring' they 
ieek fmooth banks, covered with rulhes or herbage; 
if they find a lake that communicates with any river, 
they afcend with the current; there they lay their fpawn 
on the weeds; commonly one female is followed by 
three or four males. Thefe fifh are then collected in 
fhoals, and make a great noife ; but, upon hearing any 
other found but their own, they plunge inftantly to the 
bottom. In Sweden many years experience has proved, 
that tire found of a bell was fufficient to drive the breams 
entirely from a place where they had long affembled in 
great quantities. Therefore, in fpawning-time, the peo¬ 
ple avoid making the fmalleft noife, even on their fefti- 
vals. They fpawn in May, or at the end of April, when 
the feafon is warm : this is done at three feveral times; 
the largelf begin, then the middle-fized, and lafily the 
frnalleft; in fine weather, nine days pafs between each 
divifion; but, if it be cold, there is no regularity. In 
fpawning-time, the feales of the male-fifh are marked 
with fmall white tubercles, which caufe the fifhermen 
to give them different names. Pliny has remarked the 
fame thing of the fiflies of the Lago di Como, in Italy ; 
and Salvian defcribes them exactly when fpeaking of a 
fifh called pigo, which was a kind of carp : lie fays, that 
thefe tubercles appear on the males only, that they are 
ulually on the back and Tides, and that they difappearin 
a month, If cold weather overtakes them in Tpawoing- 
I N U 
time, they plunge to the bottom; the navel of the fe¬ 
male cloTes, and enflames; the fill) Twells, decays, and 
dies. It is remarkable that in filhes, as well as other 
animals, the females are expofed to more ailments in 
propagating their fpecies than the males. Though the 
males alfo retire to the bottom in cafe of bad weather in 
fpawning-time, they are not however fubjedt to the above 
diforder. “They brought to me,” fays Bloch, “a 
bream, whofe body was decayed, and the belly much in¬ 
flated; fhe weighed three pounds and three quarters. 
About the fwelling the lcales appeared as large as thofe 
of the carp, which doubclefs arofe from the great ten- 
fion of the {kin ; for inftead of lying one over the other 
like tiles on a houfe, they lay one againft the other in 
parallel lines. Having opened the fifh, I found a gelati¬ 
nous fubflance of a red colour, which feemed granulous 
like boiled millet. I boiled a part of this ; but, inftead 
of becoming red, or like the boiled fpawn or eggs of 
fifties, it changed to a white pap.” Beftdes this malady, 
the bream is fubjeft to the phthyfic : when attacked by 
this diforder, they become fo meagre and exhaufted, 
that, if taken by the head, the body will give way, and 
hang down. In the lower belly of this fifti, efpecially 
when young, is found the Jicck, a folitary inteftinal worm ; 
alfo in the inteftinal canal the leekin, another fpecies of 
inteftinal worm. The fpawn of this fill) coniifts of little 
reddish eggs, of which 137,000 have been counted in a 
female weighing fix pounds. Though continually ex¬ 
pofed to the ravages of man, as well as the pike, perch, 
eel, water-fowl, &c. it is not furprifmg, that, with fuch 
a vaft number of eggs, it fhould ftill multiply confide, 
rably. The diver is alfo among the enemies of this 
fifh : thefe birds ufually airemble in autumn in flocks, 
and plunge into the water one after the other : the young 
breams, feared at their white plumage, retire before 
them; the birds follow them to the fiiore, where they 
catch and eat them at leifure : at this time alfo they are 
ealily taken in a net. Sometimes the buzzard attacks 
the bream, but Lf the fifii be a large one, lie often meets 
with his match : the bream plunges to the bottom when 
lie feels the bird’s talons; if the bird has only got hold 
of the flefli of the fifh, he efcapes with the piece in his 
claws ; but, if his talons are fixed in the back bone, he 
is certainly drawn to the bottom, and drowned. 
This fifh, when well fed, grows as faff as the carp, 
“The tlefti is white,” fays Bloch, “well tailed, and in 
general efleemed :” yet in England it is not much eaten, 
being reckoned foft and infipid. They may be trans¬ 
ported from place to place at a fmall ex pence : we need 
only take, in fpawning-time, fome of the weeds on which 
it has fpawned, and put them in a veftel with a little 
water; thefe muff be laid on a fmooth bank or border of a 
river, and many thoufands of little fifties will appear in a 
few days. “ lam the more certain,” fays Bloch, “of the 
fuceefs of this experiment, as having made it many 
times in my own room ; and that fome of my friends, 
to whom I had lent fome of the fame herbage, round the 
fame effects. They would produce better, no doubt, 
were the ova placed in their own proper element, 
Thefe young fry lived feveral weeks in my chamber.»» 
The bream endures the cold extremely well : packed 
in fnow, with a bit of bread fteeped in brandy, put into 
the mouth of each, they may be carried alive for twenty 
leagues : but, if moved in hot weather, they die. 
Among thefe fifh there is fometimes found one diftin- 
guiflied by colours more beautiful and bright: this the 
fifherman call “the king of the breams.” He is com¬ 
monly followed by a flioal of thefe filh, of which he 
feenrs the director. If the fifliermen catch him, they 
throw .him back again, that the others may gather round 
him, and thus a greater quantity be taken. Bloch has 
the following remarks on the king of the breams : “I 
examined one of thefe filh, which was thirteen inches 
long and four wide; and I oblerved that he ditfered 
fron> fhe .reft of the fpecies ia the following particulars; 
*• Thg 
