300 APPARATUS FOR FISHING. 



considerable variety in the size of their meshes and the 

 purposes for which the nets themselves are used. The 

 true trammel is a combination of three nets placed side by 

 side, and its name is derived from the Latin tres macula?, 

 signifying three meshes, represented by the French words 

 trois mailles, having the same meaning ; from these comes 

 the French compound tremail, or the modern word tramail, 

 and the English word trammel has evidently the same 

 origin. The trammel, then, is made up of three long nets 

 placed side by side, and fastened together at the top or 

 back, the foot, and ends. Each of the outer nets or 

 " waitings " has a depth of five meshes ten inches square, 

 and is forty or fifty fathoms long. These two wallings or 

 outer nets are so mounted or arranged that the meshes of 

 both exactly correspond in position, and a fish might pass 

 through them as if they were a single net. The third net, 

 however, is placed between the other two, and has meshes 

 only two inches square ; but it is twice as long and as 

 deep as the outer ones, the extra netting being gathered in 

 at short intervals along the edges where the three nets are 

 fastened together. The consequence is that there is a 

 large quantity of slack netting between the two outer nets. 

 The object of this will be shown presently ; but, thus 

 prepared, the trammel is ready for use, and is set at the 

 bottom with its length in the direction of the tide, never 

 across it. It is anchored and buoyed at each end, the back 

 or upper edge being well corked, and the foot weighted to 

 keep the whole length in a proper position. Thus set, the 

 trammel stands like a wall in the water, just the same as a 

 drift-net, but fixed to one place at the bottom instead of 

 moving along near the surface with the tide. The action 

 of the trammel is quite peculiar among fishing nets. The 

 outer nets or wallings stand with their meshes fully open 



