iii PREFACE. 



to prohibit the ufe of fmall hooks, that, by 

 ufing larger, the fmall fifh might not be 

 taken. 



. With this view, they ranged by claffes, 

 under different numbers, the hooks of dif- 

 ferent fizes, fo that each number fpecified 

 the ftrength, height, and opening of the 

 hooks, which were to be ufed for fuch or 

 fuch fifhing, and they had prohibited 

 themfelves the ufe of thofe, that were 

 fmaller, and which might take fifh too 

 young to be expofed to fale. This law, 

 though not written, was excellently obferv- 

 ed. When fome Catalonians came to fifh 

 near Marfeilles with fmall hooks, the 

 elders perceiving the mifchief the derogati- 

 on from their law produced, renewed the 

 prohibition, and forced all fifhermen to 

 comply, both French and foreigners, 



A very fingular phenomenon is, that 

 fifh of paffage, coming in regular feafons, 

 offer us much more abundant fi filings 

 than thofe, which the native fifh of our 

 coafts can furnifh. What riches are 

 brought in, at certain feafons, by mackarel, 



herrings, 



