94 THE LANDING NET. 



and whose judgment therefore will not be ques- 

 tioned, may venture on a landing net under any 

 circumstances ; but to the novice and the would- 

 be it is a different matter. The cockneyism of the 

 latter an animal begirt with a capacious basket, 

 ,and furnished with a folio book of flies will, 

 by the addition of a landing net, be complete. 

 Often will such a wight have the mortification 

 to be sarcastically cautioned against killing " all 

 the fish in the river," while the sad conviction 

 will possess him that he will doubtless return 

 with an infinitely greater weight of tackle than of 

 trout. Nevertheless, a landing net is useful, and 

 may often be carried with propriety. Its ring 

 should be made of brass or copper, and not 

 jointed, as some are, but in one entire piece ; and 

 its size should not be too confined. A bamboo 

 handle is the lightest and best. It should be 

 about three feet long, and furnished at the butt 

 end with a spike and crook, which last is useful 

 to disengage the line when entangled in bushes. 

 Price from eight to ten shillings. 



The taste of the purchaser and about taste, 



hundred-weight of barbel, or a peck of dace, roach, or 

 perch, caught in a day's fair fishing, not in dock or pond , 

 may be allowed as a qualification, speciali gratia, for the 

 same degree." The Angler's Souvenir. 



