150 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PArr !. 



be too sharp, and betwixt the head and the fin on the back, cut 

 or make an incision, or such a scar, as you may put the arming 

 'wire of your hook into it, with as little bruising or hurting the 

 fish as art and diligence will enable you to do ; and so carrying 

 your arming-wire along his back, unto or near the tail of your 

 fish, betwixt the skin and the body of it, draw out that wire or 

 arming of your hook at another scar near to his tail : then tie 

 him about it with thread, but no harder than of necessity to 

 prevent hurting the fish. And the better to avoid hurting the 

 fish, some have a kind of probe to open the way, for the more 

 easy entrance and passage of your wire or arming ; but as for 

 these, time, and a little experience, will teach you better than 

 I can by words ; therefore I will for the present say no more of 

 this, but come next to give you some directions how to bait 

 your hook with a Frog. 



VEN. But, good Master, did you not say even now, that 

 some Frogs were venomous, and is it not dangerous to touch 

 them? 



Pise. Yes, but I will give you some rules or cautions con- 

 cerning them : and first, you are to note, that there are two 

 kinds of Frogs ; that is to say, if I may so express myself, a 

 Flesh and a Fish Frog. By Flesh-frogs, I mean frogs that breed 

 and live on the land ; and of these there be several sorts also, 

 and of several colors, some being speckled, some greenish, some 

 blackish or brown : the Green-frog, which is a small one, is by 

 Topsell taken to be venomous ; and so is the Padock or Frog- 

 padock, which usually keeps or breeds on the land, and is very 

 large, and bony, and big, especially the she-frog of that kind ; 

 yet these will sometimes come into the water, but it is not often : 

 and the Land-frogs are some of them observed by him to breed 

 by laying eggs ; and others to breed of the slime and dust of the 

 earth, and that in winter they turn to slime again, and that the 

 next summer that very slime returns to be a living creature ; 

 this is the opinion of Pliny. And Cardanus undertakes to give 

 a reason for the raining of frogs : but if it were in my power, it 



