96 ' PISHES AND FISHING. 



Fish have certainly the senses of smell and taste ; 

 the first very perfect.* Honey has a sweet taste, and 

 also a pleasant smell ; and I have mentioned how 

 almost indispensable it is to mix this production in 

 paste for successful carp fishing, also for roach. 

 Strong cheese in paste is very attractive to chub. 

 About the latter end of August or beginning of Sep- 

 tember, if the weather have continued for some pre- 

 vious time fair, the water of the river Thames, from 

 about Teddington upwards, is so clear, that fish of a 

 moderate size can be seen distinctly eight feet or more 

 below the surface. I was lying down, looking from a 

 high piece of planking and piling into a deep hole, 

 called Halliday's, or more properly Alliday's hole, near 

 to Thames Lock, and seeing a good-sized perch, about 

 eight feet down, swimming about as if in search of 

 prey, I dropped my bait to him, a worm, wh^h had 

 been on the hook some time ; he approached, rubbed 

 his nose against it, but would not do anything more. 

 I drew up my line very gentl)^, put on a fresh worm, 

 which smelt strong and exuded a rich yellow liquid ; 

 he approached, touched it with his nose, and swallowed 

 the bait in a moment, and I landed him, weighing 



* The Olfactory Nerves. B. Harwood, Professor of Anatomy 

 at the University of Cambridge, published a httle work in 1796, 

 on Comparative Anatomy, with plates, amongst which are some 

 explanatory of these nerve* in fish. 



