120 SALT-WATER FISHES 



the bass do not see the brit as readily as might be expected. 

 I was enabled to witness a striking example of this from 

 the viaduct at Barmouth on the longest day of 1903. 

 Hundreds of fine bass were ascending the Mawddach on the 

 further side ; myriads of sand-eels gamboled unmolested not 

 a hundred yards from them. 



The foregoing illustrates in all probability the general 

 principles of the existence of bass in estuaries during spring 

 and early summer, though allowance must necessarily be made 

 for variation in local conditions. In the Sussex Arun, for 

 example, only the larger fish seem to find their way to the 

 fresh water, where they are caught even above Arundel, 

 several miles from the sea, though within the tidal portion 

 of the river ; and the shoals of smaller fish do not apparently 

 play at the surface as they do in most Devon rivers. After 

 August the smallest bass absent themselves from most parts 

 of the coast, particularly from the rivers, though here and 

 there the seines take immense quantities on the foreshore, and 

 this as late as Christmas. During autumn a few fish, mostly 

 of 5 lb. and upwards, are taken in the river ; but most of 

 the large bass caught in September and October occur in the 

 surf at various coast resorts farther up Channel, and notably 

 at Bournemouth, Brighton, Hastings, Dover, and other 

 towns similarly removed from the outfall of any considerable 

 stream. These larger bass come inshore after breezy weather, 

 when the water is still perturbed and discoloured, and rout 

 among the weed and debris for food, much of which is 

 probably in a state of decay. At any rate, fishermen find 

 that partly putrefied ray's liver is then the best bait, and the 

 large bass are frequently taken in the fall of the year in the 

 lobster pots, when the baits are stale, owing to the inability 

 of the men to pick up the pots for days together. 



The distribution of the bass presents no great difficulties. 

 On our coasts it is most abundant south of the Thames on 

 the east side and the Bristol Channel on the west, though it 



