THE STOW-NET. 93 



catching mackerel. At the latter place, a long pocket 

 of very fine mesh is inserted into the middle of the 

 bunt of the sean, and in this the fish collect as the net 

 is being hauled in. The bunt is in all cases made of 

 much smaller meshes than the other parts, as the 

 object is to enclose the fish, and not to mesh them, as 

 in the drift nets. 



THE STOW-NET. 



This is a gigantic bag-net exceeding in length the 

 largest trawl, and is used every winter at the mouth of 

 the Thames, in the Solent, and the Wash. It is exclu- 

 sively employed for catching sprats ; and numbers of 

 these nets are worked, especially in the estuary of the 

 Thames, from November to February. The net is like 

 a long narrow funnel, with a nearly square mouth, the 

 entrance being thirty feet from head to foot, and about 

 twenty-one feet wide. From this it tapers for a length 

 of ninety feet to a diameter of between five and six feet, 

 and further diminishes to nearly half that size in the 

 remaining part of the net, which, when fully made up, 

 is also about ninety feet long. The whole net is there- 

 fore nearly 180 feet, or sixty yards in length. It is 

 divided into several portions, the first being called 

 the " quarters," from being composed of four distinct 

 pieces corresponding to the four sides of the mouth ; 

 the next is named the " enter," and forms the last 

 part of the most funnel-shaped portion of the net. 



