IX, 
CONCERNING SMALL FRY. 
I. 
On the fifth day of the dialogue, as reported 
in The Complete Angler, Piscator remarks on the 
existence of three or four little fish that he had 
previously forgotten. These were without scales, 
though they might, for excellency for meat, be 
compared to any fish of greatest value and 
largest size. “They breed often,” he further 
remarks, ‘as it is observed mice and many of the 
smaller creatures of the earth do; and as those, so 
these come quickly to their full growth and perfec- 
tion. This is needful, for they be, besides other 
accidents of ruin, both a prey and bait for other 
fish.” All of which statements are true. 
Now, if these things are small, they are by no 
means to be despised; for there is a tide in the 
affairs of anglers when these “small fry” of the 
waters afford as much sport on their pebbly 
shallows as do the silvery-sided salmon in the 
