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Coarse fish, such as Chub and Roach, may be laid in an earthen pot in the shade, and will soon be fly-blown; when the Gentles are of the proper size, (but not before,) put some Oatmeal and Bran to them, and in two days they will be well scoured and fit to fish with; in about four more they become hard, assume a pale red colour, and soon after change to flies; the red ones should not be thrown away, as frequently Roach and Dace take these with a white one, in preference to all other baits. Some have recommended a piece of Liver suspended by a stick over a barrel of Clay, into which the Gentles fall and cleanse themselves; but Clay will not scour them; and besides, they fall from the Liver before they have attained their full size: the afore-mentioned is a less disgusting plan; for a short time after oatmeal and bran are put to the Gentles, the fish in which they are bred will be found perfect Skeletons, and may be thrown away: however, if they are to be bred from Liver, it should be scarified deeply in many parts, and then hung up and nearly covered over, as in that way the Flies will blow it better than when wholly exposed; in two or three days the Gentles will be seen alive; the Liver is then to be put into an earthen pan, and there remain until the first brood are of full growth; a sufficient quantity of fine sand and bran (letting the Liver remain) is then to be put into the pan, and in a few days they will come from the flesh, and scour themselves in it; the Liver should then be hung across the pan, and the latter brood will soon drop out and be fit for use; and by thus breeding

VOL. II.

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them in October, and keeping them a little warmer than those bred in the Summer, until they arrive at their full growth, and afterwards putting them in the same pan into a dampish Vault, they may be preserved for Winter fishing. Those bred in Summer, but for the bran and sand, would soon sink into a dormant state, the skins take on a blackish red, full of white matter, and shortly after become flies; those produced in Autumn, from whatever substance, will continue in this state all the Winter, provided they can shelter themselves under the surface of the earth in fields, gardens, &c. and in the warm weather of the ensuing Spring, they change into flies; thus preserving their kind from year to year.

Gentles are so universal and so alluring a bait, that the Angler should never be unprovided with them. Trouts have been taken with them in clear water, when they have refused all kind of Worms and artificial flies.

Cadis, or Cad-bait.

WALTON remarks, that there are divers kinds of Cadis, or Case-worms, which are peculiar to different Counties, and found in small brooks that have access to bigger rivers; he describes one under the name of the Piper Cadis, whose husk or case is a piece of reed, an inch or rather more in length, and the size of a silver twopence; these worms kept in a bag with sand at its bottom, and wetted once a day, will in three or four days turn yellow, and are then

a choice bait for the Chub or any large fish; and it has been described as follows, by a person of many years experience. "The Piper Cadis is said to be the largest of the tribe, and not deriving its name from any sound, but the figure; it is common in Northern and Welsh streams, but never found but where the bottoms are lime stone or large pebbles; it is about an inch long, the case is straight, and rough, from being covered with sand or gravel, and is apparently a small stick, of which the Pith was decayed before the insect, in its state immediately succeeding its exclusion from the Egg, lodged itself: advanced to an Aurelia, which is generally in April or beginning of May, it leaves its case and last covering, a sort of skin resembling a fish's bladder, (which is the method of the whole Genus,) and immediately, with its many legs, paddles upon the top-· of the water; it seldom flies, although it has four wings, which in their infant state are shorter, but soon extend longer than the body. This is usually called the Stone-fly; and in Wales the Water-cricket, from its similitude to that Insect."

The several kinds of Cadews, in their Nympha or maggot state, thus house themselves; one sort in Straws, called from thence Straw-worms; others in two or more parallel sticks, creeping at the bottom of brooks; a third, in a small bundle of pieces of rushes, duck-weed, &c. glued together, wherewith they float on the surface, and can row themselves about the water with the help of their feet; both these are called Cad-bait. It is a curious Faculty that these creatures possess, of gathering such bodies

as are fittest for their purpose, and then so gluing them together, some to be heavier than water, that the Animal may remain at bottom where its food is, and others to be so buoyant as to float, and there collect its sustenance; these houses are coarse and shew no outward art, but are within well tunnelled and have a tough hard paste, into which the hinder part of the Maggot is so fixed, that its cell can be drawn after it without danger of leaving it behind, and it can also thrust out its body to reach the needful supplies, or withdraw into its covering for protection and safety.

WALTON mentions a less Cadis called a Cock-spur, from its similitude to that bird's weapon, and whose case is nicely made of small husks, gravel, and slime; it is much smaller than the piper cadis, and it has been insisted that it produces the May-fly or yellow Cadew that which WALTON calls the Straw-worm or Ruff-coat, (but wherein he errs in making these terms synonimous,) is the most common, and is found in many of the rivers in Surrey, and indeed in most others; a representation of this Insect, both in its case and freed from it, is given; it produces many and various flies, which about London are called the Withy-fly, ash-coloured duns, of several shapes and dimensions, as also light and dark browns, all of them in northern streams affording great diversion : the Ruff-coat, which does not in the least resemble the former, but seems to answer the description which WALTON has given of the Cock-spur, is a Cadis inclosed in a husk about an inch long, surrounded by bits of stone, &c. almost equal in their size, and

curiously compacted together like mosaic; from one of these insects found in the river Wandle in Surrey, and put into a small box with sand, and wetted frequently for two days, at the expiration of that time a large fly was produced of nearly the shape of, but -less than a common white butterfly, with two pair of cloak wings, and of a light cinnamon colour; this fly is called in the North the large light brown, and in Ireland the flame coloured brown, and in some other places, from its smell, the large fætid light brown; the figure of the husk, and also of the fly in two positions, is represented. Numerous are the classes of these wonderful Creatures; the figures of four of them are likewise accurately delineated: there are different sorts, according to the Counties they are bred in, and it is curious to observe the very different flies that they produce, and which are many of them the best that frequent the Rivers. These Insects inhabit pits, ponds, slow running rivers, or ditches, in cases of different forms, and composed of various materials; some of them inclosed in a very rough shell, found among weeds in standing waters, are generally tinged green; others are bigger than a gentle, and of a yellowish hue, with a black head: they are an excellent bait, and are found in most plenty in gravelly and stony Rivulets, and by the sides of streams in large rivers, among stones. To collect them, turn up the stones, and the best will adhere to them: when the quantity wanted is obtained, put them into a linen bag for five or six days, dip them, together with the bag, into water once a day, and hang them up; they will then turn yellow,

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