JULY 189 



But how different is the condition of things in the waters 

 under the firmament. Even in fresh water, except the 

 great manatee, a few fishes such as the carp, most of the 

 molluscs and the larval forms of certain insects, every 

 creature is intent upon pursuit of another. This was 

 forcibly brought to mind lately, when I went bass-fishing 

 in Milford Haven. The summer sun lit up the broad 

 bosom of that noble fjord; a sweet south wind flowed 

 in from St. George's Channel; the waves sparkled; the 

 land ran out in long green fingers fringed with russet 

 cliffs: never did the face of nature seem more benign, 

 more full of promise of peace. Yet what a fierce drama 

 of carnage was being enacted under those blue waters. 

 We scanned the haven till we detected a flock of gulls 

 at work black-backed gulls, herring gulls, black-headed 

 gulls, common gulls, and kittiwakes, fluttering in an ex- 

 cited crowd over a couple of acres of sea. This betokened 

 a shoal of 'brett' or herring fry, moving in with the 

 tide, no doubt in busy pursuit of some minute crusta- 

 cean, and well we knew that bass would be as busy 

 beneath the surface as the gulls were above it. Heading 

 the launch towards the spot, we were soon as hard at 

 the work of destruction as any bird or fish of prey, and 

 sundry silvery bass, with a few garfish and gurnards, 

 paid the capital penalty of voracity. Qualms of com- 

 punction for the destruction of such beautiful living 

 creatures were allayed by the reflection that every bass 

 drawn inboard meant the salvation of scores of little 

 herring. 



Truly, life under the ocean wave must be an anxious 

 affair. It is well for fish that their eyes are so set on 

 the side of the head, enabling them to see what is behind, 



