14 FOOD OF FISHES. 



oil drawn out of the polypody of the oak by a retort, 

 mixed with turpentine and hive honey. Mr. Best 

 recommends a paste made with three drachms of assa- 

 fcetida, one drachm of camphor, and one drachm of 

 Venice turpentine, pounded in a mortar with a few 

 drops of oil of lavender or spike. 



On the continent, paste baits are still more compli- 

 cated, as a specimen of which, I shall give one by 

 M. Charrs, who was apothecary to Louis XIV., made 

 with two drachms each of cat's fat, heron's grease, the 

 best assafoetida, Egyptian mummy finely powdered, 

 two scruples of aniseed finely powdered, one drachm 

 each of camphor, galbanum, and Venice turpentine, 

 and two grains of civet. These are incorporated to 

 the consistence of a thinnish ointment, by means of the 

 oil of lavender, of aniseed and of camomile, and may 

 be kept good for a year or two in a narrowmouthed pot 

 or glass covered with a piece of bladder and leather. 

 The bait and about eight inches of the line are directed 

 to be anointed with this to attract the fish. 



It is probable that these variously scented ingredients 

 attract fish, (though many doubt this) in a singular 

 inexplicable way, as cats are attracted by the smell of 

 valerian, of which there can be no doubt. I should 

 think, however, that " oil of petre or rock oil/' that is, 

 petroleum, which Walton recommends to attract pike, 

 cannot succeed, as this is deleterious to all fish ; no less 

 than tar, which Daniell suggests as the only one of 

 these ointments which he ever found useful. 



The most fascinating of such pastes, however, ap- 

 pears to be the roe or spawn of salmon, variously 



