MULLETS AND MACKEREL. 267 



flat on the crown, particularly towards the muzzle. The mouth 

 is of a very singular form, from its small size and protuberant 

 fleshy lips, which it never allows any hard substance to pass; on 

 this account it is an extremely difficult fish to hook, as when pfe- 

 vailed upon to take hold of a bait, it instantly ejects it, repeatedly 

 seizing upon and casting it away, till it has extracted all the nu- 

 tritive qualities; but before it does this, a slight prick of the 

 hooks often warns it of its danger, and the bait is consequently 

 rejected. 



The mullet, though a sea fish, is not often found to wander far 

 from the shore, and notwithstanding it never of its own accord, 

 ascends beyond the influence of the tide, yet it has been proved 

 that these fish will thrive and grow in ponds having no commu~ 

 nication whatever with the sea ; and in these confined limits, it is 

 generally found to take a bait more freely, than when left to wan- 

 der at liberty ; the reason of which probably is, that when permit- 

 ted to roam at large, they find food more suited to their tastes than 

 any an angler can offer them, as well as of a more minute kind 

 than he can possibly employ as a bait, which these fish may often 

 be seen thrusting their mouths in the soft mud in search of ; and 

 for selecting which, Mr. Couch, as quoted by Mr. Yarrell observes, 

 " the fleshy lips appear to be furnished with excessive sensibility 

 of taste. *' They are ulso very partial to a kind of maggot found 

 among decomposed sea weed, in search of which they come into 

 very shallow waters t and offer very excellent marks at such times 

 for a rifle, when very good sport may be obtained by shooting at 

 them ; a proceeding that may in this instance be justified, as in 

 such places, it is almost hopeless to try to tempt them with a bait. 

 Indeed, as T before remarked, where mullets have been allowed to 

 range about in perfect freedom, I have never taken many, and had 

 I depended upon these fish for sport, should often have been doom- 

 ed to utter disappointment ; and yet when pent up in places from 

 which they have been debarred from egress, I have often met wjth 

 very superior sport. In the canal near Southampton, I before al- 

 luded to, in which the basse and mullet were detained by the em- 

 bankment being thrown across it, I often obtained some very 

 important catches of the latter fish, which were not the less highly 

 prized on account of my being at that time but a novice in the 

 angling art. 



The manner in which I first lighted upon this sport was ratrier 



