METHODS OF COLLECTING AND PHOTOGRAPHING 65 



is placed in the boat and the rope carefully coiled near it. The 

 net is then carefully "laid" by folding it back and forth after 

 the manner of a folding fan. It is not necessary to keep the net 

 stretched to its full width between the cork and lead lines. When 

 the opposite end of the net is reached a second and equal anchor 

 Hne with anchor attached is made fast to the cork line. A number 

 of gill nets may be fastened together end to end and used as a 

 single net, with a single pair of anchor lines and anchors. It is 

 convenient to lay the net on a '' setting board " four or five feet 

 long and as wide. The board may be made like a batten door of 

 smooth boards and placed across the stern of the boat, where the 

 net is to be set. The net should be set where it is thought fish 

 will run, as across a narrow neck connecting two parts of a lake or 

 across the mouth of a bay. If the net is set down the wind it may 

 be handled by a single person. The upper anchor is thrown out 

 and, as the boat drifts with the wind, first the anchor line and 

 then the net are paid out, and care is taken that the net is not 

 fouled in going over the side of the boat. When the second anchor 

 line has been paid out to near its middle a small rope, long enough 

 to reach to the surface of the water is made fast to it and to the 

 free end of this is fastened a piece of wood to serve as a float. 

 When the end of the second anchor line is reached, the net is 

 pulled taut, and the second anchor thrown over. The fish may 

 be removed from the net by pulling up the float line until the 

 anchor line is recovered and by then running along this and the 

 cork line of the net, hand over hand, allowing the part of the net 

 that has been examined to fall back into the water. 



{e) Traps. A cylinder is formed of wire netting of one-fourth 

 or one-half inch mesh. Into one end of this is fitted a cone of the 

 same material with its apex directed inward. The apex is trun- 

 cated so as to leave an opening two or more inches in diameter. 

 A similar cone may be fitted over the other end of the cylinder or 

 this may be closed by a flat cover of netting. One end of the 

 .cylinder must be removable to permit baiting and removal of the 

 fish. The cylinder may be two or three feet long and a foot in 

 diameter and the cone eight inches deep — but larger sizes may be 

 used to advantage. The trap is baited with fish or meat hung 



