NATURAL HISTORY. 19 
tinuous black-edged dorsal fin and the projecting 
lower jaw. Its colour varies according to the depth 
of water and the nature of the ground from which 
it is taken, fishermen even distinguishing two 
“kinds,” black and white conger. The belly is 
invariably white. Essentially a rock-fish, the conger 
is rarely taken on the sand, save at the edge of 
a reef. It feeds chiefly at night, and has a prefer- 
ence for fresh baits, indeed in many parts the 
angler who has only yesterday’s mackerel or her- 
ring might as well take a book. Squid, however, 
an excellent bait for this fish, may be used on the 
second day, even on the third in moderately cool 
weather. The conger is particularly fond of small 
rockling, a bait less known than it deserves, though 
I put on half a 3-bearded rockling that I had just 
caught one evening this summer on the Durley 
Rocks, Bournemouth, and the conger, of which 
there were plenty on the feed, would not touch it. 
There are many kinds of crab (see also Hermit 
Crab), but the one with which the sea-fisher- 
man is most concerned is the common 
green crab at the particular season when it is 
casting its shell, a periodical moulting which these 
crustaceans undergo in common with reptiles. It 
is when in the soft condition involved in this 
change that the crab hides instinctively in the 
crannies of rocks out of reach of the fish, bass and 
rays among them, against which its shell no longer 
protects it, and it therefore makes a good bait. 
Crab 
Of the three or four worms used by the sea- 
fisherman, none is perhaps finer, as none is certainly 
C2 
