THE COMMON TROUT. 241 



anterior than posterior portion. It occurs in old 

 dunghills, in heaps of rich vegetable mould, and 

 among rotten tan bark. This kind has advantage 

 over the others, in so far as it may be used without 

 preparation or scouring. 



Though the choice of worms does not seem a 

 very suitable subject for poetry, it has been thus 

 versified by Mr. Gay in the Rural Sports : 



You must not every worm promiscuous use, 

 Judgment will tell thee proper baits to choose : 

 The worm that draws a long immod'rate size, 

 The trout abhors, and the rank morsel flies ; 

 And if too small, the naked fraud's in sight, 

 And fear forbids, while hunger may invite. 

 Those baits will best reward the fisher's pains, 

 Whose polish'd tails a shining yellow stains ; 

 Cleanse them from filth, to give a tempting gloss 

 Cherish the sullied reptile race with moss ; 

 Amid the verdant bed they twine, they toil, 

 And from their bodies wipe their native soil. 



The preceding rhymes apply chiefly to the kind 

 called gilt-tails. Gentles gentle reader are the 

 larvaB of different kinds of carnivorous winged flies. 

 They may be kept in a mixture of oatmeal and 

 bran, and are readily produced in a piece of liver, 

 or any other flesh or fish, exposed during warm 

 weather in an earthen vessel to prevent their 

 escape when grown to a proper size. All kinds of 

 maggots, as well as those called gentles, serve ad- 

 mirably for the more delicate kinds of bait-fishing. 

 The caddis worms, before alluded to as the larvae 

 of the Phryganea or stone-fly, when taken out of 

 their cases, are a favourite bait for trout ; and dif- 



