THE RED MULLET. 175 



and trammel net, but more particularly in the last mentioned ; 

 they are sent generally to the London and other distant mar- 

 kets, as they commonly fetch too high a price for ordinary con- 

 sumption. 



A few are occasionally caught by hook and line or a trot, the 

 bait Rag- Worms or a piece of the large Flat Worm found by 

 digging under rocks at very low tides, commonly known where 

 it is found as Varm or Sea Tape-Worm. The Red Mullet 

 appears to attain a larger size on the French than on the 

 English side of the Channel, which is also the case with the 

 Atherine or Sand-Smelt. 



They are in better season and greater abundance from July 

 until the end of November than at other times of the year, and 

 as soon in the autumn as the weather becomes sufficiently cool, 

 numbers are sent from Guernsey to Billingsgate. With hook 

 and line they can occasionally be taken from a pier, with a re- 

 volving chopstick line, having a lead plummet at the end from 

 Ib. to i lb. in weight, according to the tide. Hook No. 3, 

 Kirby or Limerick, or 14 round bend sea-pattern (fig. 63, 

 p. 211.) They should be tied on 7 inches double or best single 

 Salmon gut. Three wire or whalebone chopsticks 4^ inches 

 long in fact, the improved Portsmouth Rig. During the year 

 1867, 58 were taken by one individual from Guernsey Pier, five 

 being the greatest number in one day. 



Whilst Atherine- fishing in any of the harbours of the west 

 of England you may chance to catch a Red Mullet. Many 

 yachts take a trammel net as part of their outfit, principally for 

 the sake of this excellent fish. It is, however, a net to which 

 nothing comes amiss, and will, catch Crabs and Lobsters, Cray- 

 fish, Soles, Plaice, or Whiting-Pollack, &c., in fact, everything 

 with equal facility. (See 'Trammel,' p. 222.) 



THE GURNARD OR GURNET. 



(Trigla cuctilus.} 



The Gurnards, so called from the grunting sound which 

 they emit when taken out of the water, are inconceivably 

 numerous round the coast of Great Britain, and in the Bristol 

 Channel the water is sometimes quite alive with them. 



