82 CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE. 



miniously classed among " cup shrimx)s,^^ measured out 

 in a vulgar tin half-pint, vended by a costermonger 

 and eaten by a sweep. The countless thousands thus 

 disposed of are not taken with the appliances which a 

 pleasure-seeker or amateur would make use of, but are 

 caught by regular network engines fitted out for the 

 purpose, and worked from boats; and if a stray 

 salmon or two will blunder stupidly into the meshes, to 

 the extreme annoyance of the owners, what can H.M.'s 

 Fishery Commissioners do, but pity their wayward flock 

 for straying into the toils of the shrimp-wolf, and 

 coming to an untimely end in consequence ? It should 

 bo borne in mind that live shrimps are excellent baits 

 for a number of sea and river fish. The perch, although 

 usually classed among fresh-water fish, delights in a 

 " snifl' of the briney." Brackish water he glories, 

 revels, and tlirives in ; show him a nice fresh shrimp, 

 and see how soon he becomes your humble servant. 

 Grey mullet, too, have a weakness for shrimp) entice- 

 ments, and we know of no more deadly bait for the 

 lordly salmon, than a freshly-caught Prawn. If any 

 proof of its excellence for this purpose is needed, we 

 have only to advise the sceptic to try it, by trolliug as 

 with a minnow. The prmcipal food of Salmo salar 

 and some other migratory members of the family sal- 

 monidoe, when on their long sea voyages, mainly con- 

 sists of Crustacea, and the countless myriads of opossum 



