11 



These are built on the same principle with the lobster-pots in use on the 

 New England coast, but are very ijeculiar in shape. A fair idea of one 

 of them may be gained by imagining two crockery-crates placed together, 

 with the ends at an angle so as to form a very thick capital letter V, 

 with arms about four feet square, the entrance being through a funnel- 

 shaped aperture placed in the inner angle. Smaller and more portable 

 pots, made after the same model in annealed wire, are also in use. 

 Such pots are baited with fish or lobsters, and anchored in two or three 

 fathoms of water. 



Shallow seines, a hundred yards or so in length, are plied in the bays, 

 and with them are taken vast numbers of the smaller school-fishes, such 

 as Sargus variegatus, Pimelepterus Boscii, Mugil liza, Eucinostomus giila, 

 Eucinostomus Lefroyi, HemirhampJiiis Pleii, Decapterus punctatiis, &c. 

 ThCvSe seines are usually tanned with the bark of the mangrove-tree, 

 [Bhizophora mangle.) 



Circular casting-nets, ten feet in diameter, are used with much dex- 

 terity in capturing small fish for bait. 



The "grains,'' a heavy, two-pronged instrument, resembling an ordi- 

 nary fish-spear or gig, is carried in every boat, and used in striking 

 large fish. The skillful grainsman seldom misses his mark, and in these 

 waters, clear as crystal, this instrument is effective at the depth of ten 

 or twelve feet. 



During the winter months, recourse is had to the fish-ponds, which, 

 are stocked with the surplus of the summer's catch. These are of simple 

 construction, usually natural pools in the rocks, or protected coves, 

 inclosed by loosely-laid stone walls. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, 

 of large fishes are here stored up for seasons when the severity of the 

 weather'is such as to prevent the usual visits to the fishing-grounds* 

 The largest of these, the " Devil's Hole," on Harrington Sound, is visited 

 by almost all the strangers on the islands, a small fee being charged 

 for the privilege of seeing the fishes feed. Several hundred large Groupers 

 and Hamlets {Epinephelus siriatus) are usually confined here; and, when 

 bait is thrown into the pond, the visitor can see only a close array of 

 widely-stretched hungry mouths, each six or eight inches in diameter. 



THE RELATIONS OF THE BERMUDIAN FISH-FAUNA. 



These islands, considered in reference to their marine fauna, lie 

 on the extreme northern and eastern boundary of the West Indian 

 " Region.'^ All the more characteristic fishes of this " Region" are 

 represented in Bermudian waters, and the invertebrate fauna-, as far 



