FISH-HOOKS OF WOOD FROM FRANCE. 3 1 



The Clabeou or Claveau (Fig. 2) is made out of a small White-thorn 

 [Cyatwgus oxyacantha) thorn on a portion of the stem, which is cut into a point 

 at the bottom, and has a groove cut round it to admit of the passage of a 

 double thread which is kept in position near the point by a slip-knot, and is 

 then fastened at the base of the thorn. 



These wooden fish-hooks, which the majority of our amateur fishermen 

 prefer to steel fish-hooks, are used as I have just said, for eel-fishing. The 

 vinedresser sets to work in the following way ; the hooks, to the number 

 often of several dozen, are baited with earthworms, which are stuck on until 

 the wood is completely covered up ; the end opposite the thread is fastened to 

 a small stick 30 or 40 centimetres long which the fisher plunges entirely in 

 the damp soil at the river's edge at low tide. The water rises and covers the 

 fishing rod, and a little before fiood-tide they go to see whether " the eel has 

 bitten" (local term). 



Some sportsmen have assured me that they have seen on the sand banks 

 and shores of the islands on the lower Gironde, wooden fish-hooks longer 

 than the "hains," which are hidden by piecesof liver or ox "lights," and with 

 these the natives catch wild ducks and curlews. 



M. Daleau then goes on to describe some exceedingly inter- 

 esting finds in Cave-deposits of Marcamps (Gironde) of small 

 objects made of Elephant (Mammoth ?) ivory (Fig. 3) which he 

 very logically considers to be the pre-historic ancestors of the 

 ^^ Haiti" used by the peasants of the same district in the present 

 day. 



When I had read this most interesting paper I wrote at 

 once to our old friend " Tom " in Essex asking him if he had 

 ever used any other kind of wooden hooks than those he had 

 already sent me. 



His prompt reply very much astonished me, for he enclosed 

 a few specimens of a gorge (Fig. 4) which he stated he formerly 

 used ; but after further enquiries qn my part he could give no 

 reason for doing so, nor did he know where he got the idea from. 

 A more interesting case of unconscious heredity I have never met 

 with. 



As. regards the other remarkable coincidences in M. 

 Daleau's report, I can only add that he was as much interested 

 to hear of a similar survival in our country as I was to hear of 

 the use of the Essex wooden hooks in the valley of the Gironde. 



Note. — I shall be glad to be informed of other records of 

 similar hooks from any part of the world, or to receive any 

 observations upon this interesting subject. 



