TPIE WHELK. THE CUTTLE FISH. 193 



soft part should be cut off and put in the sun for an hour before 

 fishing, if possible, and will become somewhat firmer than if 

 used at once. Sea Bream will take it well, also Whiting-Pout, 

 and if the fish are well on the feed they will also take the hard 

 part, but this is not ordinarily the case. Garden Snails are 

 sometimes used with success. 



THE WHELK. 



(Buccinum undatum.) 



The Whelk is much used as bait for Cod, and is procured 

 by varied modes of capture. There is a very considerable 

 demand for it in the London market, and great quantities are 

 disposed of, ready cooked, at the fish-stalls in the poorer 

 neighbourhoods. At Margate &c. boats are specially fitted 

 out for dredging Whelks, and they are also taken on trots or 

 long lines without hooks, the bait a number of small Crabs 

 strung by aid of a needle on a twine snooding 2 feet long, made 

 fast to the main line at about fathom intervals. Another method 

 is to set dip-nets as for Prawns, with fresh fish instead of stale 

 for bait. They enter Crab and Lobster pots in great numbers 

 when baited with pieces of fresh Skate. It is necessary to break 

 the shell with a hammer to extract the W T helk. Horseflesh is 

 much used as a bait for Whelks. 



THE CUTTLE FISH. 



(Sepia. ) 



The Cuttle Fish is often taken amongst other fish in the 

 seine or trawl-net, and is a good bait for Bass, Cod, Conger, 

 &c. ; the flesh seems something in consistence between jelly 

 and leather, very tough and of a beautiful pearly whiteness, and 

 it is this toughness which makes it so useful a bait for Bass- 

 fishing off a beach, when the lead must be cast with all one's 

 force to get it as far seaward as possible, clear of the breakers, 

 it has in its back a bone of a shield-like shape, often found 

 cast up on the beach, which was formerly much used as an 

 absorbent, and as tooth-powder when pounded. The head of 

 this creature is divided at the extremity into eight projections 

 or horns, from inside which hang two, six or eight times longer, 



o 



