316 APPARATUS FOR FISHING. 



occupation to a great variety of people. So many of the 

 contrivances used in the smaller fisheries have so essentially 

 the character of " traps ; " in other words, forms of apparatus 

 from which escape is so difficult, that practically it becomes 

 almost impossible when once the fish or other object of 

 capture has entered them, that the heading we have chosen 

 for them has the advantage of being both suitable and 

 comprehensive. Conspicuous among them are those 

 arrangements of salmon-nets which are included among 

 what are known as "fixed engines." The principle of 

 their construction has a very wide application, and, in some 

 form or other, may be recognised in almost all parts of the 

 world. The plan on which they are arranged is such as 

 to direct the fish into a partially enclosed space, having 

 a wide entrance at one end and a narrow exit at the other ; 

 this exit from one enclosure forms the entrance to another, 

 which has a still narrower opening into a third, from which 

 there is no means of escape except by returning through 

 the narrow entrance. In some modified forms there is only 

 a single enclosure, and as an illustration of this we may 

 take the stake-net. It consists of a long line of netting 

 fastened to stakes driven into the shore between tide-marks ; 

 this is called the " leader," and terminates at the lower end 

 at the entrance to a broad enclosure, into which the 

 " leader " turns the fish. The two sides of the entrance do 

 not terminate abruptly, but are curved inwards and form 

 a kind of labyrinth from which the fish can hardly escape. 

 The " kettle-net," used for catching mackerel on some 

 parts of our south coast, is of this description, excepting 

 that the enclosure or "pound" is quite simple, and the 

 escape of the fish is cut off by the falling tide. A more 

 elaborate net for salmon-fishing, and known as a " fly-net," 

 is of an oblong shape, broader at the entrance than at the 



