TROUT AND GRAYLING. 67 
it. When he had gained the trout’s confidence by sending him ten 
or twelve flies in succession, he sent the next one to him well 
plastered over with mustard and cayenne pepper to see how 
he would like it. It was immediately swallowed, and the trout 
lay watching for the next; and it eventually took no 
less than thirty of Mr. Ronald’s mustardy flies, and in 
the majority of cases, so keenly was he feeding, the fly 
was taken at the same moment that it touched the water. 
The next day he was in the same spot, none the worse for 
his strange diet, and readily took more flies, whether they were 
mustarded or not. This certainly looks as if trout at any rate had 
not a very keen sense of taste. However, if they cannot taste 
much, they are certainly able to smell, for every now and then a 
fish may be caught that has by some accident been deprived of its 
_ eyesight, and it is generally found to be in just as good condition 
as the other fish in the river, which is difficult to account for in any 
other way than that it was able to smell its food. Old angling 
books all give remarkable prescriptions for anointing worms in 
order to attract the notice of fish, and the most remarkable one I 
have come across is as follows, and was published in the Aie/d 
newspaper by a gentleman who had found it ina very old book on 
angling :—‘‘ Take chymical oil of lavender six drops, three drams 
of assafcetida, Venice turpentine one dram, camphire one dram ; 
make these into an ointment, and anoint the inside of an oaken 
box with it, and put three or four worms in it, shutting it close, 
but keep them there not too long, lest the strength of the oil kill 
them. Then take the oils of camomile, lavender, aniseed, each a 
quarter of an ounce; heron’s grease, the best of assafcetida, each 
two drams ; two scruples of cummin seed ; Venice turpentine, 
camphire, and galbanum each a dram; add two grains of civet, and 
make them into an unguent. Anoint eight inches of the line 
above the bait with it, and your expectation will be strangely 
answered.” 
_ The sense of sight in both trout and grayling is very highly 
_ movement of a man who may be on the bank of the river, 
