plumbing the depth, put one or more shot a foot below the float to balance it, which is a way to take the shyest fish; the bait a large Red-worm, which must be laid in, and let sink very gradually to the Ground-bait. When the fish bites, strike gently that very instant.

A third is, the Running-line, with a bullet and hole through it, and a small shot to hinder the bullet falling on the hook; let this run on the bottom with the Current into holes, and equally as for the Bream, it will be found to answer for all other fish that bite at the bottom.

Chub.

SALVIANUS, who would substitute the word Squalus instead of Scarus, from a supposed error in a certain passage in Columella and Varro, imagines this fish to have been the Squalus of the Ancients, but the CHUB is not a fish very likely to be taken for a Shark. Columella says no more, than that the old Romans paid much attention to their Stews, and kept even the Sea fish in fresh water, (an art perhaps now lost,) paying as much respect to the Mullet and Scarus as those of his days did to the Murena and Bass.

The Scarus, according to PLINY, was in high estimation, and was first transplanted by OPTATUS, the lieutenant-general of the fleet of TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS, into the Italian Seas, where it was cherished with the utmost care; he describes it as feeding upon grass or weeds, and chewing the Cud.

That the Scarus was not our Chub is evident, not

only because the Chub entirely inhabits fresh waters, but likewise it seems improbable, that the Romans would give themselves any trouble about the worst of River fish, when they neglected the most delicious kinds; all their attention was directed towards those of the Sea; and the difficulty of procuring them (as is ever the case with effete Luxury) seems to have been the Criterion of their Value.

This fish takes its name from the Head, not only in our own but other languages; we call it Chub, according to Skinner, from the old English Cop, a head; the French, Testard; the Italians, Capitone; in different parts of England this fish is called Chevin, Nob, or Botling; he much resembles the Carp, but is of a longer form, the body is oblong, rather round, and of a pretty equal thickness in the greater part of the slope the scales are large; the irides silvery; the cheeks of the same colour; the head and back of a deep dusky green: the sides silvery, but in the Summer, yellow; the belly white: the pectoral fins of a pale yellow; the ventral and anal fins, red: the tail forked, of a brownish hue, but tinged with blue at the end; is altogether a handsome fish; will sometimes weigh upwards of five pounds, but SALVIANUS speaks of them as increasing to eight or nine. The flesh of the Chub is not in much esteem, being coarse, and when out of Season full of small hairy bones; the head and throat are the best parts, taking care to have the latter well washed and cleansed from the grass and weeds usually in it. The Roe is exceedingly good, and this fish stewed as Carp, will, it is aid, deceive a Connoisseur.

The haunts of the Chub are in rivers whose bottoms are of sand or clay, or which are bounded by clayey banks (with the exception of their being found in the Esk, a river noted for the chrystaline clearness of its waters, flowing over a rocky bottom,) in deep holes, under hollow banks, in Summer particularly, where shaded by trees, weeds, &c. they frequently float on the surface, and are sometimes in streams and deep waters where the Currents are strong; in Ponds fed by a rivulet, they grow to a large size. They spawn in April, and are most in perfection in December and January, having then very few of the hairy bones aforementioned.

The Chub does not afford the Angler so much diversion as the Trout, from being so dull a fish on the hook, and when once struck becoming soon tired; but he bites so eagerly that when he takes the bait, his Jaws are heard to chop like those of the Dog, and having a very wide leather-mouth, and his teeth in his throat, there is little danger of his breaking his hold; to fish for him, the Angler should have a stout long rod, a strong line (if he uses a reel he will be enabled the better to fish under bushes,) with a yard or more of the best silk-worm gut at bottom, a hook proportioned to the bait used, a Swan quill float, and the line so shotted, eight or ten inches from the hook, as to sink the float to a quarter of an inch above the surface; the same ground-bait is to be used as for the Carp, and the hook baited with a sufficient quantity of Salmon's Roe (boiled a little) to fill the bend properly; this rightly managed is a tempting bait. The large ones are to be caught by