WORMS DESCRIBED. 299 



which they sell to the London tackle-shops, at per hun- 

 dred. The red-worm, when well scoured, is of a fine 

 bright red colour, with aknot or belt in the middle j it is 

 the best and most killing worm for Carp, Tench, Barbel, 

 Chub, Dace, Perch, Gudgeons, Eels, Flounders, Bream, 

 &c. Too much cannot be said in praise of well-scoured 

 red worms ; two on a hook are very enticing to Perch, 

 Barbel, Carp, Chub, Tench, &c. Indeed, hardly any 

 Fish will refuse them, especially during the Spring, 

 Autumn, and Winter j in Summer, you may use them 

 in the evenings of wet days, because at such times 

 worms move not so in dry hot weather, and the Fish 

 then expect them on the banks, from which they fre- 

 quently drop into the water. 



Blood Worms. 



This worm, or rather maggot, for it seems to be 

 covered with a case or chrysalis, and at last becomes 

 a gnat-fly, (the smallest used in angling,) is found at 

 the bottom of shallow ponds, in cow-layers, or yards, 

 and is bred from the excrements of the cows and other 

 horned cattle; by gathering the earth, sand, and dung 

 from these ponds, innumerable blood worms may be 

 found ; some are also to be met with in the ditches or 

 drains that run from houses, farm yards, &c. but they 

 are not so large as those found in the cow-layers ; in 

 the ditches, drains, and sewers, the curious may find 

 so many blood-worms, that certain parts appear a mass 

 of blood, over which innumerable gnats are playing ; 

 they are about an inch long, and not much thicker than 



