130 PISH. 



are permitted by certificate from a magistrate to 

 sell as much fish as will procure them food or 

 pay the cost of repairs. On the coast of Devon, 

 where trawling on an extensive scale is practised, 

 a part of the turbot and dory caught is sent to the 

 London market, the rest going to Bath and Exeter 

 during the season. Mr. Couch says, " The turbot 

 keeps in sandy ground, and is a great wanderer, 

 usually in companies ; and though its proper 

 habitation is close to the bottom, it sometimes 

 mounts aloft, and I have known it upon the sur- 

 face over a depth of thirty fathoms. I have been 

 informed also of its pursuing to the surface a 

 companion that was drawn up by the line, when 

 both were taken together/' Though a voracious 

 fish, the turbot is rather particular respecting 

 the quality of its food, for if in any way tainted 

 it will not touch it. The best bait are small fish, 

 either very tenacious of life or bright of colour, 

 the atherine, and the two common species of 

 the genus cottus. The sea scorpion, and father 

 lasher, are most frequently used : the first attracts 

 by its shining silvery appearance, and the other 

 by living a long time on the hook, and being 

 plainly seen by the turbot in their struggles to 



