126 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



found by thousands on the surface of mud, seem to be 

 formed of ten or twelve small connected globes, diminish- 

 ing in size towards the tail. The mouth is the largest 

 part, and appears to be perpetually wide open, with three 

 little prongs or forks protruding. In colour the whole 

 creature is of a bright crimson; and its structure, which 

 is always sufficiently curious, becomes positively beautiful 

 when placed under a magnifying-glass. Near Whitehall- 

 stairs the surface of the mud has a deep-reddish tint, owing 

 to the innumerable quantity of blood-worms ; and it is the 

 vulgar superstition that this appearance was never seen 

 before the decapitation of Charles the First. 



Once, when fishing, a singular accident occurred to me 

 in connexion with the Gudgeon. I was spinning for Pike, 

 with one of the former fish for bait, in a deep part of the 

 Thames below Harleyford, when I felt a slight check and 

 increase of weight on the line ; supposing it to be a weed, 

 I drew in the tackle, when to my surprise a live Gudgeon 

 was found attached to the dead one, and fast hooked 

 through the lip. Either, therefore, the second fish had 

 attacked the first, from the propensity common to many 

 animals of destroying wounded members of their own spe- 

 cies, or because he mistook the hook in the Matter's lip for 

 a choice morsel which he wanted to take away from him. 

 This explanation appears to be the most probable, as the 

 mouths of the two fish were actually touching each other, 

 being fixed by one and the same hook. 



Gudgeon are never found except in waters having some 



