R. n. CROFT IZAAK WALTON AND THE EITER LEA. 15 



rrobably all three species of Eel, namely, the sharp-nosed {AnguiUa 

 acutirostris), broad-nosed {A. labirostria), and grig {A. modiorostris), 

 are to be found. AValton says : " There be several sorts or kinds of 

 eels, as the silver eel, and green or greenish eel, with which the 

 river of Thames abounds, and those arc called grig, and a blackish 

 eel, whose head is more flat and bigger than ordinary eels ; and also 

 an eel whose fins are reddish, and but seldom taken in this nation." 

 We are told that " Aldrovandus and divers physicians commend the 

 eel very much for medicine, though not for meat." 



Walton mentions the Lamprey, lamperne, or pride [Petromyzon 

 fuviatilis), which still frequents our waters, and the Flounder 

 [Fldtcssa Flesiis), which occurs in the tidal reaches of the Lea. 



Counting the eels and sticklebacks as each one species, twenty- 

 seven fresh- water fish are mentioned by Walton ; of these three 

 are assigned distinct habitats, viz. char, guiniad, and bull-ti'out, 

 leaving twenty-four which we may infer might have been inbabi- 

 tants of the Lea in his time. Twenty-two of these, if we include 

 the grayling and the bream-flat, are still known to exist ; one, the 

 salmon, has become extinct within the last century, as has also 

 probably the salmon-trout ; and it is remarkable that, as far as I 

 have been able to discover, no fish now exists in the Lea that was 

 not known to the observant old naturalist whose work I have been 

 endeavouring to analyse. 



Our river is, I think, only once named in the ' Compleat Angler,' 

 and then at the conclusion of a sonnet by Drayton. 



" And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood." 



Here Lea is spelt as above, but its name has since the days of 

 Queen Elizabeth been spelt in two ways. Ofiicially it is always 

 the River Lee, and popularly nearly as constantly the Lea. 



Camden says: "Lea, by our forefathers called Lizean," and 

 Chauncy always writes " Luy or Lea." In a curious poem to be 

 found ia the introduction to Cussans' ' History of Hertfordshire,' 

 date about 1590, it is spelt Lee. One spelling is probably as 

 correct as the other, and as neither the Lee Conservancy nor the 

 British public are likely to alter their orthography, it is probable 

 that both methods will continue in use without doing any great 

 mischief, or causing very much geographical confusion. The 

 Roman name for the river was Logodonum, or Logrodonum. 



The ' Compleat Angler ' abounds in pleasant descriptions of trees, 

 flowers, etc., but time will not allow me to dwell on them. Sufiice 

 it to say that the vexed question as to what flower is meant by the 

 culverkey has not yet been definitely decided. Many authorities 

 consider it to be the columbine {Aquiler/ia vulgaris), which in the 

 * Flora Hertfordiensis ' is assigned a station near the Eye House. 

 Although it is a wood-plant, it might be gathered at the edge of the 

 wood, and need not have been a strictly meadow-flower to meet 

 the description : " Looking downe the Meadows I could see here a 

 boy gathering LilUes and Lady-smoclcs, and there a girle cropping 

 Culverkeyes and Cowsli^is, all to make Garlands sutable to this 



