FISHING ANECDOTES. 205 



I thought at the time I hooked him that I had 

 got hold of a good-sized trout, but to my disgust he 

 was only a cepa, which was a fish very much like 

 a very large herring, or like a very large agoni, 

 which is a fish peculiar to the Lago Maggiore, 

 and is caught in thousands in nets as fine as a 

 cobweb during the spawning season, and are delicious 

 eating. 



In the spawning season the agoni, which is about 

 the size of a very small herring, may be seen on the 

 top of the water in vast shoals, I may say thousands 

 together ; the fishermen know about the time to 

 expect them, and are ready with their nets, which are 

 of the finest possible texture, positively not thicker 

 than a couple of hairs off a person's head, and thus 

 they surround them with this fine and almost invisible 

 net, and catch them in incredible numbers. 



No doubt these little fish are much appreciated 

 by the big trout in the lake, but except in the 

 spawning season when they come to the top of the 

 water no one sees them, and no one seems to know 

 what becomes of them. Added to this their mouths 

 are not suitable for holding hooks for spinning. 



