50 



The spring hook which, in combination with the joint, enables 

 the net to be carried from the creel strap is one of the improve- 

 ments. By this it is suspended behind the left shoulder in the 

 position shown in the right hand figure, which also shows the new 

 Creel Strap already referred to. 



When brought into action, say with the left hand, the spring 

 joint admits of the handle being instantly extended and when 

 extended securely fixed by simply jerking the net forwards. 

 When the fish is landed, a pressure on the spring of the joint 

 figured at the top of the left hand figure at once restores the net 

 to its folded position, and this can be readily accomplished by the 

 one hand simply. 



The last diagrams represented folding handles and fixed nets. 

 Nets, that is, the rings of which are always in full circumference, 

 and always attached to their handles. There is, however, a large 

 class of "collapsing and detachable" net-rings, some of wood, some 

 of steel, some of whalebone, and all possessing at least one 

 common merit that of portability, " portability," that is, as it 

 applies to the case of the traveller, or the tourist; when it is wanted 

 for carriage in the pocket or in the rod case whenever, in short, 

 the net is not needed for use. In minor details, however, wide 

 differences exist in the different degrees of merit of the different 

 arrangements, not only as to the material of which the ring is 

 made, but notably as to the mechanism of the attachment between 

 the ring and the net handle. Having regard to these very 

 important points, certainly one of the best nets now made is that 

 invented by Messrs. Hardy Brothers, of Alnwick. 



The side supports of this net are of flexible wood, and when 

 stretched out into position and so retained by the metal socket 

 into which the right hand support slips a cord stretched between 

 the opposite points keeps them at the regulated distance, as a 

 bow is kept bent by the bow-string. 



