but is slenderer, and the back straighter; the usual length does not exceed eight inches. The colour of the back is silvery with a blueish cast, the Eyes, ventral, and anal fins, are paler than those of the Dace, but the pectoral fin is redder, and they are much better eating.

Roach

is a handsome fish either in, or fresh out of the water; it inhabits many of our deep, still rivers, affecting, like the others of this genus, quiet waters. It is gregarious, keeping in large shoals. It has a small head, a leather mouth, which is round, and also small, with the teeth in the throat; large eyes, the circle of which resembles gold colour, and the iris red; the Roach is deep but thin, and the back elevated; the scales are large, and easily fall off; the fins are in general red, particularly whilst in perfection, as they may also be known to be by the smoothness of the scales, which, when out of season, feel like the rough side of an oyster-shell; the side line bends much on the middle towards the belly, and the tail is a little forked. It is so silly a fish that it has acquired the name of the water Sheep, in contra distinction to the Carp, who for his Subtlety is termed the water Fox. The proverb of "Sound as a Roach" appears to be not peculiar to this Country; the French have the same idea, who compare people of strong Health to their Gardon, our Roach, and yet this fish is not more distinguished for its vivacity than many others.

This fish is in little esteem, from the quantity of bones; the flesh is, however, exceedingly wholesome, and the Roe, which is green and boils red, peculiarly good. Soup made of this fish is excellent. There is a kind of Roach in some ponds and standing waters that is very flat, having whitish eyes and fins, and the tail much forked; it is supposed to be bred from the Bream and Roach; they never grow large, and are good for nothing. Roach differ much in goodness, according to the rivers they are taken from, but none of the species are good in Ponds; in many Streams they are taken of two pounds weight, but the preferable size for eating are those of about half a pound, and probably were they not so common and numerous would not be so much despised as they now are.

WALTON speaks of the largest Roach in the Kingdom being in the Thames, where many have been caught of the weight of two pounds and a half; and in the list alluded to in the preceding fish mention is made of one which weighed five pounds. In referring to this catalogue of remarkable fish, we are reminded of some curious rude portraits in the Kitchen of Tyringham House, near Newport Pagnel, of the following fish, which were at different periods taken in the OUSE.

A Carp, in 1648, two feet nine inches long.

A Pike, in 1658, three feet seven ditto.

A Bream,

A Salmon,

two feet three and a half ditto.

three feet ten ditto.

A Perch, 1658, two feet.

A Shad, in 1683, one foot eleven inches*.

On the 5th of June, 1804, I saw a Shad that had been taken that morning just above London Bridge: the extreme length was One foot eleven inches, was Eighteen inches from Eye to Fork, and weighed five pounds.

PENNANT, in his LONDON, says the Shad arrives in the Thames the latter end of May, or early in June, and is a very coarse fish ; it sometimes grows to the Weight of Eight pounds, but the usual size is from four to five. This is the fish which Du HAMEL describes as the true Alose of the French; but the Thames Fishermen have another they call Allis, much less than the former, with a row of spots from the gills along the sides, just beneath the back, more or less in number: This the French call Le Feinte*. "I suspect," says Mr. P. "that the name Allis is misapplied to this Species, and that it ought to be applied to the greater common Shad, being an evident corruption from the French name Alose: is the same with that of the Severn, but is rarely taken here; but neither of them is admitted to good Tables."

The Shad of the 5th of June was considered by the Fishermen to be an overgrown fish of its Species, yet Mr. PENNANT describes them as sometimes attaining to nearly double the weight of this.— He thus mentions the Shad of the Severn. In Great Britain the Severn affords this Fish in higher perfection than any other River. It first appears there in May, but in very warm seasons in April; for its arrival, sooner or later, depends much on the temper of the Air. It continues in the River about two Months, and then is succeeded by a Variety, which we shall have occasion to speak of hereafter. The Severn Shad is esteemed a very delicate Fish about the time of its first appearance, especially in that part of the river that flows by Gloucester, where they are taken in nets, and usually sell dearer

Bloch II Tab. 30, gives the figure of the Feinte; but is of opinion that the Spots vanish with Age. "For my part," says Mr. P. I have not had opportunities of frequent Examination of these fishes, but I incline to think they are different, as the Femtes appear in Spawn at the length of Sixteen inches, which is their largest size."

These are the Records of Rural life; important, perhaps, only to those who are happily disengaged

than Salmon: some are sent to London, where the Fishmongers distinguish them from those of the Thames by the French name of Alose. Whether Shads spawn in the Severn and the Wye is not determined, for their Fry has not yet been ascertained. The old Fish come from the Sea into the River in full Roe. During the Months of July and August, multitudes of Bleak frequent the River near Gloucester; some of them big as a small Herring, and these the Fishermen erroneously suspect to be the Fry of the Shad. Numbers of these are taken near Gloucester in those Months only, but none of the emaciated Shad are ever caught in their Return.

The Shad of the Thames does not frequent that River till the latter end of May or beginning of June, and is deemed a very insipid coarse fish. The Severn Shad is sometimes, though rarely, caught in the Thames, and called Allis (no doubt Alose the French name) by the Fishermen in that River. About the same time, and rather earlier, the Variety, called near Gloucester the Twaite, makes its appearance, and is taken in great numbers in the Severn, and is held in as great disrepute as the Shad of the Thames.

The differences between each Variety are as follows.

The true Shad weighs sometimes Eight pounds, but their general size is from four to five.

The Twaité on the contrary weighs from half a pound to two pounds, which it never exceeds.

The Twaite differs from a small Shad only in having one or more round black spots on the sides; if only one, it is always near the Gills, but commonly there are three or four, placed one under the other.

The other particulars agree in each so exactly, that the same Description will serve for both. The head slopes down considerably from the back, which at the beginning is very convex, and rather sharp the Body from thence grows gradually less to the Tail. The under jaw is rather longer than the upper; the Teeth very minute. The dorsal Fin is placed very near the Centre, is small, and the middle rays are the longest: the pectoral and ventral Fins are small; the Tail vastly forked: the Belly extremely sharp,

from the Cares attendant upon business, politics, and dissipation.

The Roach delights in gravelly, sandy, or a kind of slimy marl bottoms, under a deep, gentle, running stream: in tlie Summer they often frequent shallows near the tails of fords, lie under banks among weeds, (especially when the water is thick,) under the shade of boughs, and at or opposite the mouth of a rivulet or brook, that empties itself into a larger river, the best Roach are generally to be met with; as winter approaches their haunt is changed to clear, deep, and still waters.

The Roach spawns the latter end of May, (according to the Elements of Natural History, it produces upwards of 54,000 ova, feeds on aquatic plants and vermes, and is preyed upon by the larger fishes and water fowl:) for three weeks after spawning they are unwholesome; they recover themselves in July, and get good about Michaelmas, but are in their prime in February or March.

and most strongly serrated. The Back is of a dusky Blue; above the Gills begins a line of dark spots, which mark the upper part of the Back on each side; the number of these Spots is uncertain in different Fish, from four to ten.

In the Elements of Natural History, this Fish is described in the following manner. In May and June the Shad ascends the Rivers, and deposits its Spawn in rapid streams. In Autumn it returns. It is from two to three feet long, lives on Worms and Insects; it is preyed upon by the Siluri, Pikes, and Perches. It is detested by the Russians and the Inhabitants of the Wolga, although it is much relished elsewhere, and in India its Ova are as highly esteemed, as Caviar is by the Russians. It is covered with large Scales which easily come off...