TRAWLING. 81 



fins and display life tints of the most delicate beauty, 

 but of which only faint traces will remain by the time 

 they are laid out for sale on the fishmonger's board. 

 Whiting form a considerable item at certain seasons 

 in the catches of the Devonshire trawlers, as haddock 

 do among the hauls made in the North Sea. A few cod 

 of various sizes are frequently taken ; and hakes, as 

 already referred to, are specially fished for during the 

 early part of the year. These last, in accordance with 

 their restless habits, often find their way into the 

 pockets, and the silvery sheen of their scales makes the 

 net conspicuous at some distance as it is being hoisted 

 on board. 



Among the variety of animal life brought up by the 

 trawl, especially on the Devonshire coast, where many 

 parts of the bottom are shingly, bu.t not too rough to 

 work upon, Crustacea are frequently abundant, and 

 whilst the fishermen are busy picking out the prime 

 fish and separating the different kinds for packing, a 

 lobster will perhaps suddenly flap its way out from 

 among the slippery crowd ; edible and long-legged 

 spider crabs stalk forth with solemn and ridiculous 

 gravity, and hermit crabs in dozens rattle their shelly 

 domiciles about the deck with their accustomed business- 

 like air, seeking to anticipate the happy time when, the 

 marketable portion of the catch having been set aside, 

 they, with starfishes, zoophytes, cuttle spawn, and other 

 marine productions coming under the heads of " sculsh " 

 and "scrufi'," and of no value to the fishermen, are 

 returned to their native element. 



To the naturalist the contents of the trawl are gene- 

 rally of unbounded interest, not only on account of 

 their varied character, but because of the natural ap- 

 pearance and living beauty of the animals. It is a 



G 



