CHAP, v.] THE FOURTH DAY. 91 



some breed only in the earth, as the earth-worm ; others of, or 

 amongst plants, as the dug- worm ; and others breed either out of 

 excrements, or in the bodies of living creatures, as in the horns 

 of sheep or deer j or some of dead flesh, as the maggot or gentle, 

 and others. 



Now these be most of them particularly good for particular 

 fishes. But for the Trout, the dew-worm, which some also call 

 the lob-worm, and the brandling, are the chief ; and especially 

 the first for a great Trout, and the latter for a less. There be 

 also of lob-worms, some called squirrel-tails, a worm that has a red 

 head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail, which are noted 

 to be the best, because they are the toughest and most lively, and 

 live longest in the water ; for you are to know that a dead worm 

 is but a dead bait, and like to catch nothing, compared to a lively, 

 quick, stirring worm. And for a brandling, he is usually found 

 in an old dunghill, or some very rotten place near to it, but most 

 usually in cow-dung, or hog's-dung, rather than horse-dung, which 

 is somewhat too hot and dry for that worm. But the best of them 

 are to be found in the bark of the tanners, which they cast up in 

 heaps after they have used it about their leather. 



There are also divers other kinds of worms, which, for colour 

 and shape, alter even as the ground out of which they are got ; as 

 the marsh-worm, the tag-tail, the flag-worm, the dock-worm, the 

 oak-worm, the gilt-tail, the twachel or lob-worm,* which of all 

 others is the most excellent bait for a salmon, and too many to 

 name, even as many sorts as some think there be of several herbs 

 or shrubs, or of several kinds of birds in the air : 3 of which I shall 

 say no more, but tell you, that what worms soever you fish with, 

 are the better for being well scoured, that is, long kept before they 

 be used : 4 and in case you have not .been so provident, then the 



VARIATIONS. 



3 even as many sorts as some think there be of several kinds of birds in the air. ist 

 edit. 



4 are the better for being long kept before they be used. ist, zd, -$d, and 4/7* edit. 



* To avoid confusion, it may be necessary to remark that the same kind of worm is, 

 in different places, known by different names : thus the marsh and the meadow worm 

 are the same : the lob-worm or twachel is called the dew-worm, and the garden worm ; 

 and the dock-worm is, in some places, called the flag-worm. The tag-tail is found in March 

 and April, in marled lands or meadows, after a shower of rain ; or in a morning, when 

 the weather is calm, and not cold. To find oak-worms, beat on an oak-tree that grows 

 over a highway or bare place, and they will fall. To find the dock or flag worm, go to 

 an old pond or pit, and pull up some of the flags; shake the roots, and amongst the 

 fibres that grow from them you will find little husks, or cases, of a reddish or yellowish 

 colour ; open these, and take thence a little worm, pale and yellow, or white, like a 

 gentle, but longer and slenderer, with rows of feet down his belly, and a red head ; this 

 is an excellent bait for Grayling, Tench, Bream, Carp, Roach, and Dace. H. 



