54 LOCH CRERAN. 



Coast of England, and they are not common in Scotland 

 while they have been captured in the Firth of Forth. Does 

 this not mean that with us our nets are too large to 

 capture such a small fish, and our fishing population too 

 careless of what is set down roughly as " fry " to pay any 

 attention to them ? Again, Couch describes the habits 

 of A. Boieri as being very different from A. Presbyter, 

 which always swims deep in the water; and yet the 

 captures we made, except in being smaller, closely 

 resemble what is falsely termed the smelt in some 

 districts, A. Presbyter ; the proper smelt being a large 

 fish of a different class. Although we only managed 

 with a small hand net to secure a few dozen specimens, 

 we saw them in multitudes at the mouth of the stream ; 

 and others, who were further out in a boat, spoke in 

 exaggerated terms of the number of barrels playing 

 around a half dry rock. It is quite clear that these 

 fishes are now of their full natural size, and they were in 

 really beautiful condition, so that, despite the sharp bones 

 with which they are provided, they proved a most tasty 

 dish when fried and eaten with oat cake. That there 

 are different opinions as to their gastronomic value may 

 be due to the attempt made to include the back-bone in 

 the mouthful; but if this is withdrawn these little 

 Atherines are as delicate as any fish we have ever tasted, 

 fat as herring, without being oily. They were suffi- 

 ciently plentiful, too, to make their capture worth at- 

 tempting, but how can one take such small fish in 

 quantity without a net whose meshes would be in- 

 definitely small ? We fear they will be permitted to 

 afford food to the seals and the sea-birds, and by 

 wandering about the loch delude the dwellers thereby 

 into trying for herring or mackerel. Our attention was 



