ANG 



ANG 



float angling. The fl oat consists of a round 

 piece of cork, six inches in diameter, with 

 a groove cut at its edge, in which the line 

 is coiled, except so much next the hook 

 as to allow it to hang in mid-water, and so 

 much at the ether end as will reach to the 

 bank. When a fish takes the bait, and 

 runs with it, the line unwinds off' the trim- 

 mer without giving any check ; but it will 

 be prudent to give a slight jerk, to secure 

 the fish when you come to take up the 

 line. This method is very successful in 

 canals, large ponds, or other still water. 



Before concluding this article it will be 

 proper to notice, that the weather has 

 much influence on fish. When the wind 

 is in some points, few fish will bite ; the 

 most unfavourable is the eastern quarter. 

 A warm lowering day, with flyin< show- 

 ers, and a slight ripple on the water, is the 

 most favourable. Water slightly disturbed 

 prevents fish from seeing the tackle, and 

 in in they take the bait most readily. 

 Hence, whatever tends to disturb it so as 

 to hide the line, without totally obscuring 

 the bait, is of advantage. In waters affect- 

 ed by the tide, the flood is the best time 

 for angling; but the ebb should not be 

 neglected. Whirlpools, eddies, mill-tails, 

 sides of bridges, and beneath their arches, 

 are places where fish more readily bite, 

 chiefly for the above reason ; and in gen- 

 eral, a certain degree of darkness in the 

 water, whether occasioned by the shade of 

 buildings, rocks, or other bodies, or caus- 

 ed by the agitation of its surface, or by 

 muddy streams flowing into it, is favoura- 

 ble to angling. 



The proper season for fishing is in ge- 

 neral from the beginning of spring to the 

 end of autumn; but this depends much on 

 the nature of the fish angled for: some 

 may be caught at all times ; others, as 

 those of passage, are only to be met with 

 at particular seasons ; and others, though 

 always confined to one piece of water, 

 are nearly torpid during the winter, and 

 are found only in deep places. See Tay- 

 lor's Angling. 



ANGUIS, in natural history, the sloto- 

 ivorm, a genus of serpents : the generic 

 character is, scales both on the abdomen 

 and beneath the tail. There are, accord- 

 ing to Gmelin, 26 species. This genus is 

 easily distinguished, by having the abdo- 

 men and under part of the tail covered 

 with scales of a similar appearance to 

 those on the rest of the animal, except 

 that in some few instances they are ra- 

 ther larger. The body is of a shorter and 

 fclore uniformly cylindric form than in the 

 sfenus Coluber : the eyes are in general 

 small, and the tail rather obtuse. No poi- 



sonous species of anguis has yet been dis- 

 covered. A.fragilis, or common slow-worm, 

 is found in almost all parts of Europe, in 

 similar situations with the common snake, 

 and is a perfectly innoxious animal, living 

 on worms and insects. It is about 10 or 12 

 inches long : the tail measures more than 

 half the length of the animal, and termi- 

 nates pretty suddenly in a slightly acumi- 

 nated tip. The slow-worm is a viviparous 

 animal, and produces occasionally anumer- 

 ous offspring: like other serpents, it varies 

 in intensity of colours at different periods, 

 and the young are cftmmonly of a deeper 

 cast than the parent animal. The general 

 motions of the slow-worm are tardy, ex- 

 cept when endeavouring to make its es- 

 cape : it can, however, occasionally exert 

 a considerable degree of swiftness, and 

 can readily penetrate the loose soil in or- 

 der to conceal itself from pursuit. They 

 are often found in considerable numbers 

 during winter, at some depth beneath the 

 surface, and lying in a state of torpidity, 

 and again emerging from their conceal- 

 ments on the approach of spring, when 

 they cast their skin, and recover their for- 

 mer liveliness. If struck with violence, 

 the body of this animal will break into 

 pieces. A. corallina, or coral slow-worm, 

 is a very elegant species, about 18 inches 

 long, and of a considerable thickness : 

 the scales are moderately large, and the 

 head and tail are remarkably obtuse. It 

 is a native of South America, where it is 

 found in woods, and to prey on the larger 

 insects, as the scolopenclrae, &c. : in colour 

 it sometimes varies, a mixture of black 

 being blended with the red on the sides. 

 (See Plate I. Serpentes, fig. 3.) A. ven- 

 tralis, or glass slow-worm, is a handsome 

 species, about two feet long : it is a native 

 of sorth America ; body ashy-green, stri- 

 ate ; lateral band black ; belly short, ap- 

 parently joined by a hollow suture ; tail 

 verticillate, three times as long as the bo- 

 dy ; it takes its name from the circum- 

 stance of breaking to pieces in two or 

 three places with a small blow of a stick, 

 the muscles being articulated quite 

 through the vertebrae. A. Jamaicensis, or 

 Jamaica slow-worm, found in Jamaica, 

 about the roots of decayed trees, near 

 ants' nests, &c. and though it has general- 

 ly been deemed poisonous, yet it is really 

 innocuous; its colour is an uniform pale 

 brown, with a kind of silvery gloss on the 

 scales, which are very smooth. 



ANGULAR motion, in mechanics and 

 astronomy, is a motion of a body which 

 describes an angle, or which moves cir- 

 cularly round a point. Thus a pendulum 

 has an angular motion about its centre of 



