It  is  a  leather-mouthed  fish,  the  scales  large,  colour
whitish,  and  in  shape  as  well  as  in  some  of  its  habits  it  is
not  altogether  dissimilar  to  the  salmon  tribe.
The  most  remarkable  feature  about  the  asp  is  the  greater
elongation  of  the  lower  jaw,  which,  as  depicted  in  the  portrait,
extends  considerably  beyond  the  upper.
60  THE    ASP.
The  asp  inhabits  both  still  and  running  water ;  the  latter,
it  would  appear,  in  preference.  It  feeds  not  only  on  worms,
mollusca,  &c.,  but  on  small  fish.  It  is  the  most  voracious
of  the  carp  tribe,  and  is  said  not  unfrequendy  to  chase  other
fish  with  such  eagerness  as  to  drive  its  victim  as  well  as
itself  ashore.  When  spinning  for  trout,  &c.,  we  not
seldom  met  with  it  in  strong  rapids,  where  it  would
seize  the  bait  with  avidity.  It  does  not  survive  long  after
being  taken  out  of  the  water.
As  with  most  others  of  the  Cyprini^  it  is  not  in  much
request  in  Sweden  for  the  table.
In  our  part  of  the  Wenem,  the  asp  spawned  in  April  or
beginning  of  May.  There  was  a  celebrated  lek  not  very
far  fi-om  Ronnum,  at  which  about  one  hundred  and  fifty
lispund,  or  three  thousand  pounds  weight  of  this  fish
were  taken  annually.  Of  its  habits  at  this  period  I  am
in  ignorance,  as  also  as  to  the  length  of  time  that  elapses
before  the  eggs  are  hatched,  and  equally  so  as  to  the  growth
of  the  fiy.
