CONCERNING SMALL FRY. 85 



beads, and afterwards filled them with wax. The 

 method of making the round bead is by heating 

 one end ot a glass tube and blowing into it two 

 or three times, which then expands into a globular 

 form. The workman then separates the bead, 

 places the end which has been heated on a wire, 

 and heats the other end. This process is called 

 bordering or edging. The best pearls are made 

 in the same way, the holes of the tubes being 

 gradually reduced by heat to the size of those 

 of the real pearls, the workman taking each 

 bead on an inserted wire, and, by continually 

 turning them round in the flame of the lamp used, 

 they become so true as to be strung as evenly 

 as the Oriental pearls. The lamp used is similar 

 to a glass-blower's foot-bellows apparatus, and the 

 work is done by lamplight, daylight being unsuit- 

 able. Seven pounds' weight of fish-scales give 

 one pound of essence d 1 orient" Land and Water. 

 Eels are among the mysteries of creation, and 

 this is the more puzzling as they are the most 

 common and widely distributed of fishes. Less is 

 known concerning them than almost any other 

 of our British fresh-water species. The eel is 

 just such a creature as would centre about it 

 superstition ; and in many country districts it is 

 not considered a fish at all, but a " water-serpent." 

 The mighty conger is cousin to the eels proper, 



