CURIOSITIES OF ANGLING LITERATURE. 259 



skin ; then he whips away with it to sea, and returns 

 to his natural length, which is equal to a large cable. 

 One of them was found dead with two wild boars in 

 his belly." 



Thus much as to a few zoological curiosities of 

 fish literature. Another kindred subject upon which 

 the inventive faculties of anglers and naturalists have 

 delighted to exhaust themselves in theories, possible 

 and impossible, is that of 



OILS AND SCENTED BAITS, 



and their attractive influences upon the piscine 

 appetite. This vexata qucestio has been a prolific 

 source of controversy and gross exaggeration on the 

 part of angling authors in times past ; and even now 

 the web of fact and fiction which they have inge- 

 niously woven can hardly be considered as fairly dis- 

 entangled. 



The question is Have fish the sense of smell, and 

 if so, to what extent ? It is conceded that almost all 

 animals have this power, more or less, and that in 

 some the gift takes the characteristics of the mar- 

 vellous ; and until it is proved to the contrary it 

 would certainly seem, according to all the accepted 

 laws of logic, that creatures with nostrils should be 

 admitted into the category of smellers. We might, 

 indeed, thus easily settle the question, and say, in 



