IX. 



CONCERNING SMALL FRY. 



i. 



ON the fifth day of the dialogue, as reported 

 in The Complete Angler, Piscator remarks on the 

 existence of three or four little fish that he had 

 previously forgotten. These were without scales, 

 though they might, for excellency for meat, be 

 compared to any fish of greatest value and 

 largest size. " They breed often," he further 

 remarks, "as it is observed mice and many of the 

 smaller creatures of the earth do ; and as those, so 

 these come quickly to their full growth and perfec- 

 tion. This is needful, for they be, besides other 

 accidents of ruin, both a prey and bait for other 

 fish." All of which statements are true. 



Now, if these things are small, they are by no 

 means to be despised ; for there is a tide in the 

 affairs of anglers when these " small fry " of the 

 waters afford as much sport on their pebbly 

 shallows as do the silvery-sided salmon in the 



