THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 85 



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 



The red-worm is a smaller lob-worm, and is the best bait when of strong 

 red color, taken from a dry, loamy soil. They are not as good bait in th*» 

 summer as spring. 



The brandling are striped red and yellow, found in dry dung-heaps ant 

 tan-yards. They are bitter, and not fit for use unless scoured for several 

 days. 



The tag-tail, or marl-worm, is of a bright red, and very lively, found 

 in clay. 



Hawkins says : " If you beat an oak tree that grows over a high-way or 

 bare place, the oak-worms will fall for you to gather." 



Anglers in this country are not much in the habit of scouring their 

 worms. Bowlker's method is the best : " Gather fresh moss, wash out the 

 earth, squeeze it, but not too dry, and put worms and moss into an earthen 

 jar, changing the moss twice a week in summer and once in winter. If 

 the worms look sickly (languid or swollen), sprinkle new milk over the 

 moss. The jar must be kept in a cool place. Worms may be kept after 

 being gathered in the spring, by dipping a coarse clean cloth in a quart of 

 water in which a pound of mutton suet, chopped fine, has been dissolved, 

 and laying it over the moss." 



Gentles (a gentle name for maggots) are in constant use by English 

 ground-anglers. They may be procured from a sheep's liver exposed to 

 the sun for several days, and so hung up that the gentles will drop into a 

 pan of sawdust placed under. They should then be kept in dry sand and 

 bran mixed, where they will be cool, or they will turn into the chrysalis 

 state. They are most useful in spring, and may be carried to the water in 

 a box, of wood, not tin. Walton's notion of scenting his bait, is common 

 to many anglers. The oil of ivy, when genuine, is the best ; some use 

 assafcetida, and others are loud in praise of chinque-foil. This practice 

 was known to the ancients, as appears from the Geo-ponica, xx., where 

 several recipes are given. Oppian's favorite bait for river fishing was 

 veal minced and kept in calf's blood for ten days. — Am. Ed. 



