ACANTHOPTERYG1I. 109 



" Mullets frequently enter by the flood-gate into 

 a salt-water mill-pool at Looe, which contains about 

 twenty acres ; and the larger ones, having looked 

 about for a turn or two, often return by the way 

 they had come. When, however, the turn of the 

 tide has closed the gates and prevented this, though 

 the space within is sufficiently large for pleasure and 

 safety, the idea of constraint and danger sets them 

 on effecting their deliverance. The wall is examined 

 in every part ; and when the water is near the sum- 

 mit, efforts are made to throw themselves over, by 

 which they are not uncommonly left on the bank 

 to their own destruction. 



" When, after being surrounded by a net, two 

 or three have made their escape, and the margin of 

 the net has been secured and elevated above the 

 surface to render certain the capture of the only 

 remaining one, I have seen the anxious prisoner 

 pass from end to end, examine every mesh, and all 

 the folds that lay on the ground, and at last, con- 

 cluding that to pass through a mesh or rend it 

 afforded the only, though desperate, chance of es- 

 cape, it has retired to the greatest possible distance, 

 which had not been done before, and rushed at once 

 to that part which was most tightly stretched. It 

 was held, however, by the middle, and conscious 

 that all further effort must be unavailing, it yielded 

 without a further struggle to its fate. 



" The Grey Mullet selects food that is soft and 

 fat, or such as has begun to suffer decomposition, 

 in search of which it is often seen thrusting its 



