SCOMBEEIDJE. 195 



by these pestSj the fisherman may spare himself all skill, 

 and almost all labour^ the wretched creatures offering 

 themselves for capture, like the mice in Hudibras's hol- 

 sters, and coming 



On purpose to be taken, 

 Without th' expense of cheese or bacon, 



merely that death may put an end to their suffering. 

 Some of the accounts given of these pigmy tormentors 

 are curious and striking; they creep, it seems, from 

 their lurking-places in the mud, where they exist in such 

 prodigious quantities that often the fisherman, on draw- 

 ing up his lines, will find the baits entirely consumed by 

 them; and entering stealthily under the gill-covers of 

 their living prey, commence a persecution to which death 

 only puts a period. 



When the fierce dog-star brings the sultry days. 

 And feverish vapours taint the kinder rays, 

 Then fearless of the waves, the ocean breeze 

 Broods o'er the waters, and infests the seas. 

 Beneath the shelt'ring fin the insects hide, 

 And goad with poisonous sting the tender side. 



Oken, and belongs to the family lernaea. Besides the terrible 

 scourge which infests the skin, these unfortunate soombers have 

 other parasites, which, vulture-like, prey on their vitals. Com- 

 merson relates that he has found asoarides and tsenias in the 

 thunny's intestines, fascioli in the peritoneum, filarias and other 

 species in the stomach. So that this fish is liable not only to 

 be tormented out of his wits by lernEsas, but, like Herod, to be 

 eaten of worms. Pliny supposed these parasitic pests to be only 

 such common fleas and Kce as we entertain on shore ; — ' In 

 summe, what is not bred in the sea P even the very fleas that skip 

 so merrily in summer-time within victuallers' houses and innes, 

 and bite so shrewdly ; as also Hoe that love to be best closest under 

 the haire of our heads, are there engendered ; and many a time 

 fishers twitch them up on their hooks, and see a number of skip- 

 pers and creepers settled thick about their backs. And these 

 vermin trouble the poor fishes in their sleep by night, within the. 

 sea, as well as on land.' 



K 2 



