AND THE FISH THEREOF. 125 



and occurs chiefly in the months of March and April, and the valli are closed 

 when the heat of the sun becomes scorching, as, otherwise, the fish would 

 escape into deeper and cooler waters. 



The diked ponds are again opened in the months of August and 

 September, at which season the grey mullet species (Mugil salicns) ascends, 

 the reed-ponds remaining closed, as the young fry, even if it were admitted 

 at this season, would escape through the reed-screens on the first approach of 

 the cold weather. In the case of the diked ponds, the dikes and sluices 

 prevent the escape of all fish. 



The descent of those species of mature fish which enter the sea at 

 regular seasons, for spawning or other purposes, is known as the calata ; 

 this is the time which is looked forward to with the greatest impatience by 

 all concerned. It is the season when the catch of eels, and the so-called 

 pesce bianco, is at its height, i.e., at the commencement of November ; it is 

 also known as the fraima, or frimas, i.e., the hoar-frost (infra hyemem). 

 The scene on a night of fraima is indescribably lively and exciting ; 

 nobody, who has not witnessed it, can have any idea of the feelings of 

 wonder and astonishment it produces in the spectator, and it requires the 

 pen of an artist properly to describe it. 



A valle gives a profitable yield, so to say, all the year round ; thus, a 

 pound of eel-fry {Elvers) (known as capillari) will yield from 3,000 to 4,000 

 kilogrammes, at the age of five or six years ; and a pound of grey mullet-fry 

 will yield 1 70 kilos of flesh in the course of a year. A second catch of eels 

 takes place during Lent ; this is known as the pesca quaresimale. As most of 

 the valli are able to sustain a greater quantity of fish than enters of its 

 own accord, this being particularly the case in respect of the diked ponds, to 

 which the passage is limited to the apertures in the dikes known as dove, 

 recourse is had to what is called seminagione, i.e., the replenishment of the 

 ponds with pesce novello, which is caught by the pescenovellanti, as described 

 elsewhere. Fry of the gilt-head is worth 10 florins per mille ; grey mullet 

 1 florin per mille. 



Great care is requisite for rearing the fish which has entered the valli ; 

 the different species are carefully separated according to the state of their 



