36 SEA-FISH. 
As bait for conger, these small members of the 
Rock- cod family are, as a rule, not to be beaten, 
lings though I have alluded to one occasion on 
which they failed to attract. There are three ; one 
species having three beards, while in the others the 
number of these appendages is respectively four 
and five. The fry, silvery and lacking spots, are 
the “mackerel-midge,” so greedily devoured by 
surface-fish. Any of these rocklings, about seven 
inches long, make first-rate conger-bait ; and one 
of the best ways of taking these slippery fish at 
low water from the isolated rock-pools they in- 
habit is to draw off the water with a small garden- 
syringe. The cost of such a syringe is trifling, and 
the saving of time and trouble incalculable, as 
these fish are most difficult even to net. The 
water should be drawn off quickly, as the rock- 
lings will otherwise take the alarm and disappear 
into various holes and crannies, from which it is 
impossible to dislodge them. 
After the lug-worm and mussel, the sand-eel, or 
launce, must take precedence as an all- 
round bait ; indeed, for such fish (as bass 
and pollack) as will take live bait, the launce 
stands first. ‘There are at least two species on our 
sandy coasts—the larger, which grows to a length 
of 12 in., being distinguished from the smaller 
(maximum length, 7 in.) by the two horny teeth 
in the upper jaw. They have much the same 
habits, burrowing in the wet sand just above low- 
water mark, or swimming at the surface, often in 
the company of sand-smelts, fighting over all float- 
ing food, taking any small hook freely, and falling 
a prey to the pollack beneath and the gulls over- 
Sand-eel 
