86 DRUM-NET—LOBSTERS—WHISTLE-FISH. [PART I. 
with great success a common Drum-net, which I 
purchased (originally with a view to eels) at 
Good's, in King William Street, City,—where I also 
got the best snooding, in point of strength and 
fineness, that I have ever seen—finding it well 
adapted for the purpose, and admitted to be far 
superior to those which are generally used there 
by the resident population. These latter are, as 
well as the former, made of net stretched over a 
wooden frame, but form a shape like a trunk with 
an arched top, having one or two apertures in 
the sides to admit the fish. The Drum-net is 
formed of a net stretched upon three hoops, kept 
apart by sticks fastened to them, the ends of the 
net being drawn in by strings leading through to 
the opposite end, on the principle of the eel-pot :— 
“Facilis descensus Averni, sed revocare gradum!” 
In this manner we caught a considerable number, 
more indeed than we well knew what to do with, 
including one weighing upwards of seven pounds, 
and another, minus one of its large claws, of six 
pounds and a quarter. Not unfrequently an Eel 
or other stray fish would find its way into the 
hoop-net, one being an unusually large specimen 
of the Three-bearded Rockling or Whistle-fish, two 
pounds weight, and eighteen and a half inches long. 
