MISCELLANEA. 35 



breast buttons of the coat. In Pike-fishing espe- 

 cially, a disgorger is a sine qua non, and the longer 

 it is the better. The ordinary disgorger is too 

 short for the purpose ; and in consequence of the 

 inconvenience experienced in extracting Pike- 

 hooks with it, I had a " disgorger blade," if I may 

 so term it made, of course, without edges of any 

 sort inserted in my fishing-knife, by which means 

 the length of the disgorger was doubled, and its 

 power and readiness for use very greatly increased. 

 The advantage of this arrangement of the dis- 

 gorger, in trolling as well as in other fishing, sug- 

 gested the advisability of extending the principle 

 so as to embody in the same knife the rest of the 

 angler's implements, and thus spare him the ne- 

 cessity of collecting and stowing each article before 

 starting for the river. 



The engraving represents the form and arrange- 

 ment of a fishing-knife which will, I believe, be 

 found to contain what is really required, viz. : 

 a powerful blade suited for crimping or other 

 general purposes ; a " disgorger blade ;" a minnow 

 needle ; an ordinary baiting needle, the last two 

 slipping into a box in the handle of the knife, a 



