TRAMMEL OR SET NETS. 101 



or tramail, a corruption of trois mailles, i.e. three 

 meshes. In low Latin this net is called tramallum or 

 tramela, derived from tres maculae, signifying the same 

 peculiar construction. The trammel, then, is a com- 

 bination of three long nets placed side by side, and 

 fastened together at the back, foot, and ends. Each of 

 the outer nets or " wallings " has a depth of five meshes 

 ten inches square, and is forty or fifty fathoms long. 

 These two wallings are mounted so that the meshes of 

 both exactly correspond in position, and a fish might 

 pass through them as if they were a single net. The 

 third net, however, is placed between the other two, and 

 has its meshes only two inches square ; but it is both 

 twice as long and as deep as the outer ones, the excess 

 being gathered in at short intervals along the edges 

 where the three nets are united. The result is a large 

 quantity of slack netting between the two outer nets. 

 Thus prepared, the trammel is set at the bottom with 

 its length in the direction of the tide. It is anchored 

 and buoyed at each end, the back or upper edge being 

 well corked, and the foot weighted to keep the whole 

 length in a proper position. 



The action of the trammel is peculiar, and is more 

 like that of a trap than is apparently the case in other 

 sea nets. As the outer nets or wallings stand with 

 their meshes fully open and exactly opposite each 

 other, and the small-meshed net hangs loosely between 

 them, a fish, in trying to pass through the first one, 

 meets the second, and carries a portion of it through 

 the third, thus producing a bag or pocket beyond it. 

 The more the fish struggles within its self-made prison, 



