CRUELTY IN PACKING EELS. 



81 



baskets supported on a wootleu framework. The lar^^e 

 open end of each basket is opposed to the stream, and, 

 by the pecnliar construction of the inside, which is like 

 a mouse trap, a fish," having once entered, cannot escape 

 again. A set of these eel-bucks can be seen from the 

 bridge over the Thames to the east of Maidenhead 



EEL-BUCK. 



station, on the Great Western Eailway. Li Land and 

 Water, No. 383, May 24, 1873, have published diagrams 

 and descriptions of eel-nets as used in the Severn betw^een 

 Gloucester and Worcester. 



The eel fisheries in Ireland are exceedingly valuable ; 

 very large numbers are caught in the autumn months, 

 as they are descending from the lakes to the sea — they 

 generally run on nights when thunder is about — and are 

 put into boxes and screwed tightly down when alive. I 

 consider this to be a most cruel proceeding ; the poor 

 things must suffer very much screwed down in those 

 dreadfully narrow quarters. This is a subject well 

 worthy of the attention of the Society for the Prevention 

 of Cruelty to Animals. 



I have heard of an old Irish fisherman who used to 



7 



