a fact of this kind is not at once instinctively discovered by the angler, and was not previously communicated to us, we fished it for half a day with more skill than success. Our movements were steadily watched the whole time by a south country shepherd, who, rolled up in his plaid, his dog Yarrow close beside him, and both beneath the cozy shelter of a whin dike, seemed curious to ascertain how long we would continue our attempt at sport. When at last, despairingly, we turned us homewards,―a hospitable and most pleasing home was Mrs. Scobie's,-and neared our pastoral friends couched in their "sunny lair," the “human" without moving either head or heel, drawled out as follows: "Ye'll no hae killed mony trouts there?"

66

"No, we've had no sport at all."

Na, na, it's weel kent there was never a trout in that loch frae the beginnin' o' the creation." He thus possessed the key to our discomfiture; but, from some unknown silential principle, on which we have since deeply pondered but failed to ascertain, he had declined or at least delayed, to reveal the secrets of that dark abyss. However, we consoled ourselves with the "experientia docet" of Dr. Ruddiman, and philosophically repeated as we travelled across those breezy uplands,

Happy the man who studying nature's laws,
From known effects can trace the secret cause.

THE GRAYLING.

*

This beautiful fish delights in clear and rapid

* Thymallus vulgaris, Cuv.-Salmo thymallus, Linn.

streams, and occurs in many of those which bear that character in the more hilly or mountainous districts of England, particularly in Shropshire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire,―reaching as far north as one of the tributaries of the Tyne in Northumberland. We are not aware of its occurrence in any river of the mainland of Scotland, although Mr. Low states that it is not unfrequent in the streams of the Orkney Islands. We deem it more than probable that he has mistaken for it some other fish. Its European range seems extensive,— if the various authors are correct in their name, and each designates the same species. According to Linnæus it is common in Lapland, where its viscera are used instead of rennet, with the milk of rein-deer. It is also found in Siberia, in Prussia, and Pomerania. The grayling is a very ornamental species, the prevailing hue of the body being of a pale yellowish brown, finely varied by reflections of golden green, and copper colour. But the most marked and peculiar feature is the dorsal fin, of very large size, and darkly spotted between the rays in the form of transverse bands. The ordinary size is from ten to sixteen inches, but individuals are killed occasionally which weigh three, four, or even five pounds. Unlike the other salmonidæ, it does not spawn till spring, and is therefore in high condition in autumn and winter, when most. fresh-water fishes are out of season. By some authors the grayling is regarded as a migratory fish, which passes most part of the winter in the open sea, and resides only during

spring and summer in the fresh waters. Whatever may be the case in continental countries, its habits are otherwise in the rivers of our sea-girt isle, where during November-it attains its best condition. Besides, Sir Humphrey Davy found by experiment that this species could not outlive the effects of even brackish water.

The grayling is a bold and sportive fish, but more tender in the mouth than the trout. It rises well to what is called the camlet-fly, and to several other of the smaller sized trout-flies. It seems rather fond of game, at least has no objection to a moorfowl wing, and hare-ear body, and may be angled for successfully with the caddis-worm, and other ground baits.

Although the natural history of the gwyniad or fresh water herring, called Schelly in Cumberland, of the vendace of the Loch Maben district, and the pollan of Ireland, presents many points of interest to the student of Ichthyology, yet as these are not, strictly speaking, anglers' fishes, we must leave them unrecorded in our present volume. For the same reason the varied and invaluable tribes of marine species, from the slender bodied silvery smelt to the gigantic cod-fish, and far expanded skate, can claim no portion of the angler's time, except when sounds

"That Tocsin of the soul, the dinner bell.”

We shall, therefore, conclude this portion of our volume by setting a few lines for eels.

Reader, are you fond of eels? We ourselves dislike them in all their stages, whether on hook or table; and yet kind Mrs of Linlith

gow, sends us some every year from the Loch of that name, beneath "The Royal house of Scotland's ancient Kings." With our accustomed liberality, however, and setting aside for the present our own personal feelings on this slimy subject, we agree with Mr. Yarrell that eels are in truth a valuable kind of fish, being extremely prolific, consequently very abundant, widely distributed, easily caught except with the hand-and nutritious as an article of food, though somewhat heavy from their oily nature. "In this country they inhabit almost all our rivers, lakes, and ponds; they are in great esteem for the table, and the consumption in our large cities is very considerable. The London market is principally supplied from Holland by Dutch fishermen. There are two companies in Holland, having five vessels each: their vessels are built with a capacious well, in which large quantities of eels are preserved alive till wanted. One or more of these vessels may be constantly seen lying off Billingsgate; the others go to Holland for fresh supplies, each bringing a cargo of 15,000 to 20,000 pounds weight of live eels, for which the Dutch merchant pays a duty of £13 per cargo for his permission to sell. Eels and salmon are the only fish sold by the pound weight in the London market."*

Their snake-like aspect and other reptile attributes, no doubt tend to form and perpetuate the prejudice which many otherwise humane-minded men cherish towards these insidious fishes. They move about on land with great facility, and with a motion resembling that of serpents. They have even been seen to leave fresh water lakes during the night in considerable numbers, apparently for the purpose of preying on slugs and snails among the dewy herbage. They abound in many continental rivers, and are caught in immense numbers in those which empty themselves into the Baltic, where they form a considerable article of trade. It is stated that 2000 have been caught at a sweep in Jutland, and 60,000 have been taken in the Garonne by one net in a single day. Cambridgeshire is still famous for its eels, and the isle of Ely, according to some authorities, was so called in consequence of its being the place from whence the Kings of England were anciently supplied with these fishes. "Here I hope," says old Fuller in his Worthies," I shall not trespass upon gravity, in mentioning a passage observed by the reverend professor of Oxford, Dr. Prideaux, referring the reader to him for the author's attesting the same. When the priests in this part of the country would still retain their wives, in despight of whatever the pope or monks would doe to the contrary, their wives and children were miraculously turned all into eels (surely the great into Congers, the less into Greggs), whence it had the name of EELY. I understand him, a LIE of EELS."