STICKLE-BACK, or BAN-STicKLE—Gasterosteus .4eu leatus. This is a small prickly fish. They shed their spawn on aquatic plants in May. They are to be found in rivers, brooks, lakes, ponds, and even in ditches. They can raise or depress their spines towards the tail at pleasure ; they are of no use, farther than, when the prickles are cut off, to be taken as bait for trout, pike, Zte. Fish for them with a small hook, and a bit of worm.
EEL—Milnena ?inguilla. We seldom angle for this fish, being generally taken by set or night lines, bob bing, sniggling, &c. They sometimes, however, swallow the worm when fishing for trout, (which is the reason for their having a place here,) and they are then consi dered as unwelcome obtruders upon the angler's sport; being not only disagreeable to handle, but very difficult to extricate from the hook.
From the days of Aristotle to the present times, the generation of the eel has been a subject of much dis pute among naturalists ; some assert that they are ovi parous, and others that they are viviparous. Be that, however, as it may, numerous are the theories advanced, and many are the experiments which have been made, to ascertain this matter. Yet it seems still undecided, and is perhaps one among the arcana in Nature's econo my that will not soon be discovered by man. The silver eel, which is the cleanest and finest variety of this spe cies, is to be found in almost every river and brook in this country. The lampreys (petronzyzon fluviatilis) are here, from the spiracles on the sides of their necks, called nine-eyed eels, although of a very different species from the anguilla. mumna. They are never eaten, and are much detested in Scotland. In England, however, they are highly esteemed ; the corporation of the city of Gloucester, as the finest dainty from the Severn, pre sent annually to his majesty, on Christmas-day, a large lamprey bye. A surfeit of these fish occasioned the death of Henry the First, as also of Mr Pope, the cele brated poet.
* The GRAYLING or UMBER—Sal/no Thymallus. This fish is said to have the fragrant smell of the plant from which it has its specific name.
Some authors, from its fleet and shooting motion, like to that of a quick passing shadow, have called it the Umber, (umbra fiuviatilis.) Amb•osius talks highly in praise of the Thymallus. They are certainly fine fish, both in point of eating, and of the sport they afford to the angler. They are neither to be found in Ireland, nor in Scotland. Although not plentiful, yet they fre quent many rivers in England, particularly the Severn, Tame, Wye, Lug, Trent, Dement, Dove, and Humber, where it is called the golden umber. Their length is generally from twelve to fourteen inches. They spawn in May. and are in the best condition for the table when trouts are in a shotten state, that is in November. They rise briskly to a Ily, and take all the trout baits, except (as some assert) the minnow. Angle for them with the finest tackle, as they are the quickest sighted, and the most timid of all fish. When hooked, they must be carefully worked, as the • hold in the mouth gives way as easily as that of the gilse.
BARBEL—Cyprinus Barbra. Although this is not a very uncommon fish in England, yet the discordant ac count of authors, with regard to its size, is most sur prising, and may serve as a specimen of the latitude which Ichthyologists take in their definitions. " Lon gitudo pedalis, ye' cubitalis. Poudus maximorum 7 ad 8 librarum." ?irtedi Ichthyologia, Pars iii. p. 5. (Length a foot or a cubit, and greatest weight from seven to eight pounds.) " The barbel is about a cubit in length, and weighs from seven to eight pounds, and yet there was one caught at Staines, that weighed 23 pounds." Brooks's Natural History, vol. iii. p. 109. " It is from 2 to 15 feet long." Elements of Natural History, pub lished at Edinburgh, 1801, vol. i. p. 365. " Length 10 or 11 inches." Berkenhout's Synopsis, vol. i. p. 83. We shall make no comment upon these contradictory autho rities, farther than to observe, that were a barbel of fif teen feet long to be taken out of such rivers as they commonly haunt, it would be truly a most marvellous production.