conveyed to them through their denser element, but only by
letting the fingers gradually close about them as they are poised
over the palm, and with the utmost gentleness raising them slowly
to the surface. Though stationary, they keep up a constant
sculling or waving motion with their fins, which is exceedingly
graceful, and expressive of their humble happiness; for unlike
ours, the element in which they live is a stream which must be
constantly resisted. From time to time they nibble the weeds at
the bottom or overhanging their nests, or dart after a fly or a
worm. The dorsal fin, besides answering the purpose of a keel,
with the anal, serves to keep the fish upright, for in shallow
water, where this is not covered, they fall on their sides. As
you stand thus stooping over the bream in its nest, the edges of
the dorsal and caudal fins have a singular dusty golden
reflection, and its eyes, which stand out from the head, are
transparent and colorless. Seen in its native element, it is a
very beautiful and compact fish, perfect in all its parts, and
looks like a brilliant coin fresh from the mint. It is a perfect
jewel of the river, the green, red, coppery, and golden
reflections of its mottled sides being the concentration of such
rays as struggle through the floating pads and flowers to the
sandy bottom, and in harmony with the sunlit brown and yellow
pebbles. Behind its watery shield it dwells far from many
accidents inevitable to human life.

There is also another species of bream found in our river,
without the red spot on the operculum, which, according to
M. Agassiz, is undescribed.

The Common Perch, _Perca flavescens_, which name describes well the