86 DRUM-NET LOBSTERS WHISTLE-FISH. [PART I. 



with great success a common Drum-net, which I 

 purchased (originally with a view to eels) at 

 Good's, in King William Street, City, where I also 

 got the best snooding, in point of strength and 

 fineness, that I have ever seen finding it well 

 adapted for the purpose, and admitted to be far 

 superior to those which are generally used there 

 by the resident population. These latter are, as 

 well as the former, made of net stretched over a 

 wooden frame, but form a shape like a trunk with 

 an arched top, having one or two apertures in 

 the sides to admit the fish. The Drum-net is 

 formed of a net stretched upon three hoops, kept 

 apart by sticks fastened to them, the ends of the 

 net being drawn in by strings leading through to 

 the opposite end, on the principle of the eel-pot : 

 " Facilis descensus Avenii, sed revocare gradum!" 

 In this manner we caught a considerable number, 

 more indeed than we well knew what to do with, 

 including one weighing upwards of seven pounds, 

 and another, minus one of its large claws, of six 

 pounds and a quarter. Not unfrequently an Eel 

 or other stray fish would find its way into the 

 hoop-net, one being an unusually large specimen 

 of the Three-bearded Rockling or Whistle-fish, two 

 pounds weight, and eighteen and a half inches long. 



