190 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



a fish is caught which does not show scars left by 

 the disease want of tail, partial loss of fins, and 

 white patches where the fungus has previously 

 grown. That numbers of the fish attacked do 

 survive there can be no question; and that the 

 disease may be prevented at the cost of a few fish 

 I have but little doubt. This may be considered 

 a bold assertion; but in these days of artificial 

 rearing, re-stocking and preservation, anglers and 

 angling associations are apt either to forget or to 

 ignore the balance of Nature. Now, Nature rarely 

 overlooks an insult. Destroy her appointed instru- 

 ments and beware of her revenge. That the salmon 

 and trout may live a whole host of stream-haunting 

 creatures are condemned, and that often upon the 

 most insufficient evidence. 



The creature against which the angler " breathes 

 hot roarings out " is the otter. But how few fish 

 does the otter really destroy! The evidence to be 

 gathered by those who live along its streams all goes 

 to show that eels and freshwater crayfish form the 

 staple of its food. In search of these, it wanders 

 miles in a night and will not partake of soft-bodied 

 fish so long as they can be found. The economy 

 of the otter ought not to be overlooked in connection 

 with sport and our fish supply. Probably its in- 

 creasing rarity has as much to do with the disease 

 alluded to as had the extermination of the nobler 



