Notes on Fish and Fishing

LJ.-'/w^fslLeY /w.y\. ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University THE GIFT OF WILLARD A. KIGGINS, JR. in memory of his father L Cornell University Library SH 439.M27 Notes on fish and fishing 3 1924 003 714 171 1/* : NOTE S FISH AND FISHING. By J. J. MANLBY, M.A/ WITS ILLUSTRATIONS. " Quicqnid agwxt pieces nostri est farrago libelli." {Slightly alteredfrom) Juvenal. EonBon SAMPSON LOW, MAKSTON, SEATTLE, & EIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1877. [All rights reserved.'] : SH M2-1 361,40 LONDON gilbert and rivington, peintees, st. john's square. PBEFACE, " Gentle " Readeb—or, as probably I may call you, " " Brother Angler —and you, too, gentle or ungentle critic, as the case may be, please take the trouble to run through these few introductory lines. Nothing is more unfair to an author than to read or " dip into " his book before seeing what he has to say about it in his Preface. In this you will often find that he explains the scope and plan (or perhaps absence of plan) of his work, and tells his readers what to expect and what not. Thus, to some extent he is able, by way of anticipation, to pro- tect himself against unfair objections which might be alleged against his performance, and to escape the wrath of some readers who might be disappointed at not finding what they expected to find, and what the author never meant they should find. Let me, then, say a word or two by way of explanation in reference to these " Notes." They are not intended to form a book of methodical instruction for anglers ; nor do they pretend to be exhaustive of the subjects treated of. They are written on no very definite plan, though it will be seen that those which deal with the different fish con- IV PREFACE. secutively run to some extent in the same groove, the observations on the nomenclature of our fish, their natural history, and their gastronomic merits and demerits, taking their up a far larger space than the remarks bearing on one, capture. This little volume is really an unambitious as I wish its title to imply. I might almost call it a simple selection of "Notes" from my commonplace book on angling, and from the enormous mass of piscine and pis- catorial memoranda and extracts which have gradually " " and accumulated round me ; or a collection of chit-chat " " — gossip for anglers ; or, once again, a mere farrago or a "hodge-podge"—of more or less disjointed remarks on Fish and Fishing, the result of many years of observation, reading, and experience in reference to the " gentle art/ If I may venture to say that my book has a special 5 feature, that feature consists in the first four " Notes/ the second of which, on the " Literature of Fishing," deals more fully with a subject than I believe it has been dealt with before. Another feature is the introduction of a large number of quotations from and references to other authors, ancient and modern. I had an idea that such quotations and references might be both interesting and useful to many of my readers. Let me add, that if in any case I have quoted the words of an author without dis- tinctly acknowledging my indebtedness, I trust the fact may be put down to inadvertence rather than design. But if this be all I have to say on behalf of my book, it may be asked, "What, then, is its raison d'etre?" and " Why add another volume to the already heavily-laden shelves of angling literature V I can only answer that it pleased me to write it, and an eminent firm of pub- lishers, whose house stands, appropriately enough in this PEEEACE. V instance, on the spot where old Isaak Walton lived for many years, to publish it. Moreover, anglers, both old and young, seem ever ready for a new book on angling, whatever form it may assume; and I have been told or read that there are no less than 500 persons in the United Kingdom who make a practice of buying every fresh addition to the literature of fishing. Thus, to say the least of it, by producing this volume I am giving readers and collectors of angling books an opportunity of indulg- ing their respective fancies. I shall say no more in what may seem the direction of an apology for my book, for I do not feel that any apology is really needed. I will only add that I shall be quite satisfied if my readers and "brother anglers" receive a tithe of the pleasure in perusing these " Notes " which I have experienced in putting them together. Scribere jussit amor. August, 1877. — CONTENTS. NOTE I. ICHTHYOLOGY. PAGE " Classification of fish—Their structure—" Queer fish —Hybrids- fish sleep ? Senses of fish : vision, hearing, smelling, tasting— Do —Do fish feel pain ?—Tenacity of life —Diseases of fish —Pood and digestive powers—Change of colour in fish —Do fish talk ? —Books on ichthyology 1 NOTE II. THE LITERATURE OE FISHING. Antiquity of angling literature —The " Book of St. Alban's," by Dame Juliana Berners (or Barnes) —Authors before Izaak Wal- ton— Walton's contemporaries — Walton— Critics of Walton Character of Walton—Proposed memorial to Walton —Other contemporaries of Walton—Authors after Walton to end of 18th century—Authors from 1800 to present time—Poetical literature of angling—Clergymen-authors on angling—General character of angling literature—Catalogues of angling literature—Books on angling recommended—Angling cannot be " learnt from books—Want of an Angler's Organ" . .32 CONTENTS. VU NOTE III. FISHIN& AS A SPOET. PAGE Angling in England and other countries—Angling compared with hunting and shooting—Enthusiasm of anglers—Eationale of angling—Effect of field-sports on character—Character of anglers in Izaak Walton's time and afterwards—Modern anglers—London anglers—Metropolitan angling clubs—An- gling contests—Anglers lovers of nature—" Devout " anglers —The virtues of anglers—Angling best recreation for " Drain- " workers —Lady anglers ...... 71 NOTE IV. FISHING AS A FINE AET. Antiquity of angling—Ancient and modern fishing-tackle—Pro- gress of angling as an " art "—Numberless questions to be con- sidered by anglers as to habitats and habits of fish, tackle, baits, &c.—Numberless expedients to be resorted to—Educa- tion of modern fish — The angler a meteorologist, geologist, entomologist, and naturalist generally—Character of the angler by Qervase Markbam—Use of aquaria to anglers—Some sug- gestions NOTE V. The Teout . ... 124 NOTE VI. The Geaymng ... 165 NOTE VII. The Jack . ... .... 184 NOTE VIII. The Peech ... 220 — Vlll CONTENTS. NOTE IX. PAGE 238 The Caep . NOTE X. The Tench 247 NOTE XI. The Babbel . 260 NOTE XII. The Bream 274 NOTE XIII. The Chub 283 NOTE XIV. The Roach . 294 NOTE XV. The Dace . 304 NOTE XVI. Small Pey:—The Gudgeon . 311 NOTE XVII. Small Fey : The Bleak, the Pope, the Loach 328 NOTE XVIII. Small Pet : The Minnow, the Stickleback 335 NOTE XIX. Pry:—The Millee's Thumb, Small the Ceayfish . 314 NOTE XX. Thames Angling 350 — NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. NOTE I. ICHTHYOLOGY. " Nature s great and wonderful power is more demonstrated in the waters than on land."— Pliny. Classification of fish—Their structure—" Queer fish"—Hybrids Senses of fish: vision, hearing, smelling, tasting—Do fish sleep F Do fish feel pain? —Tenacity of life — Diseases of fish — Pood and digestive powers—Change of colour in fish—Do fish talk P—Books on ichthyology. Let me at the outset say that in these " Note3 " I shall use the terms " Angler " and "Fisherman" as synony- mous, though I am quite aware that the former is the correct name to be applied to those who fish with hooks ; dyKcov, "the elbow/' Latin Angulus, which originally signified anything bent, being probably the origin of the word, unless indeed we refer it to the German Anken, to fix, pierce, or to the Dutch Kanghen, to "hang." It is not, of course, necessary that an angler be a Zoologist, or even an Ichthyologist, to enjoy his pursuit; but the more he knows of and studies natural history the greater the pleasure will he get out of his angling excursions. Certainly he should know something B A NOTES ON PISH AND FISHING. of the natural history of the creatures which are the objects of his sport, as, indeed, should all sportsmen in their several departments, and not pursue their quarry- as mere savages. He will be amply rewarded by his studies, which will show him that fish are really the most interesting of all the great Classes of the animal world, and still present the widest field for observation and investigation. I am not, however, about to trouble my readers with any attempt at a learned discussion on ichthyology, or write a criticism on the scientific and unscientific Classifi- cations of fish from the time of Aristotle down to the naturalists of the present day. Let G-esner, Buffon, Linnaeus, Cuvier, Huxley, Owen, and a host of other learned authors be read by angler-naturalists as they have leisure ; but suffice it for our present purpose to say that Fish belong to the great Vertebrate division of the Animal Kingdom as opposed to the Invertebrate, and that they are one of its great Classes, whether we take the Six Classes of Linnaeus, the Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, Ashes, Insects, and Worms, or the nine or more classes of other naturalists. The Orders and Sub-orders, Families and Sub-families, Sections and Sub-sections, into which fish have been divided and subdivided, are almost as numerous as the Chapters with their Sections and Sub- sections to which Burton, that most wondrous of " book- makers," has treated his readers in his Anatomy of Melancholy.

Load more