CHAPTER IX 



CATFISH AS SCAVENGERS 



WITH the exception of the sharks, which, vermin as they 

 are, give a measure of sport under favourable conditions, 

 I have now disposed of most of the really big game of the 

 Florida coast waters, and it remains to draw the reader's 

 and intending visitor's attention to the number of other 

 sea-fish that on occasion give excellent sport in those latitudes. 

 I have often thought that in the all-absorbing ambition for 

 the record tarpon some of these humbler fish, which would 

 themselves create a sensation in English waters, are too 

 consistently neglected. The sharks shall receive notice 

 where their low standing as vermin relegates them, at the 

 end of the book. 



It may be complained, particularly by those who have 

 never been on the spot, that I have passed too lightly 



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