106 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART I 



some breed only in the earth, as the Earth-worm ; others of or 

 amongst plants, as the Dug-worm ; and others breed either out 

 of excrements, or in the bodies of living creatures, as in the 

 horns of sheep or deer ; or some of dead flesh, as the maggot or 

 gentle, and others. 



Now these be most of them particularly good for particular 

 fishes : but for the Trout, the Dew-worm, which some also call 

 the Lob-worm, and the Brandling, are the chief; and especially 

 the first for a great Trout, and the latter for a less. There be 

 also of Lob-worms some called Squirrel-tails, a worm that has 

 a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail, which are 

 noted to be the best, because they are the toughest and most 

 lively, and live longest in the water : for you are to know, that 

 a dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch nothing, com 

 pared to a lively, quick, stirring worm. And for a Brandling, 

 he is usually found in an old dunghill, or some very rotten place 

 near to it : but most usually in cow-dung, or hog's dung, rather 

 than horse-dung, which is somewhat too hot and dry 'for that 

 worm. But the best of them are to be found in the bark of the 

 tanners, which they cast up in heaps after they have used it 

 about their leather. 



There are also divers other kinds of worms, which for color 

 and shape alter even as the ground out of which they are got ; 

 as the Marsh-worm, the Tag-tail, the Flag-worm, the Dock- 

 worm, the Oak-worm, the Gilt-tail, the Twachel or Lob-worm, 

 which of all others is the most excellent bait for a Salmon, and 

 too many to name, even as many sorts as some think there be 

 of several herbs or shrubs, or of several kinds of birds in the air : 

 of which I shall say no more, but tell you, that what worms 

 soever you fish with are the better for being well scoured, that 

 is, long kept before they be used : and in case you have not been 

 so provident, then the way to cleanse and scour them quickly 

 is to put them all night in water, if they be Lob-worms, and 

 then put them into your bag with fennel ; but you must not put 

 your Brandlings above an hour in water, and then put them into 



