66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



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 color 

 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 gift-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 ; of which 

 1 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 be- 

 fore they be used : and in case you have not been so provident, 

 then the way to cleanse and scour them quickly, is to put them 

 all night in water, if they be lob-worms, and then put them into 

 your bag with fennel ; but you must not put your brandlings 

 above an hour in water, and then put them into fennel for sudden 

 use ; but if you have time, and purpose to keep them long, then 

 they be best preserved in an earthen pot with good store of moss, 

 which is to be fresh every three or four days in summer, and 

 every week or eight days in winter ; or at least the moss taken 

 from them, and clean washed, and wrung betwixt your hands till 

 it be dry, and then put it to them again. And when your worm, 

 especially the brandling, begins to be sick and lose his bigness, 

 then you may recover him, by putting a little milk or cream, 

 about a spoonful in a day, into them by drops on the moss ; and 

 if there be added to the cream an egg beaten and boiled in it, 

 then it will both fatten and preserve them long. And note, that 

 when the knot, which is near to the middle of the brandling, be- 

 gins to swell, then he is sick, and if he be not well looked to, is 

 near dying. And for moss you are to note, that there be divers 

 kinds of it, which I could name to you, but will only tell you, 

 that that which is likest a buck's horn is the best, except it be soft 

 white moss, which grows on some heaths, and is hard to be found. 

 And note, that in a very dry time, when you are put to an ex- 

 tremity for worms, walnut-tree leaves squeezed into water, or salt 

 in water, to make it bitter or salt, and then that water poured on 



