16 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



in with the few, with the result they go to market or to the 

 picklers, who send them to Norway, etc." In a subsequent 

 letter Dr. Laver, speaking of the catching of Eels, as pursued in 

 his vicinity, wrote : "With reference to Eels, did you ever notice 

 how much nicer they are when caught in the sea than those 

 caught in fresh-water ditches ?* In this district there are several 

 boats constantly engaged in the trawling on tbe Zostera-covered 

 shores for Eels. I have never seen this sort of trawling employed 

 elsewhere. It pays at times very well, I think, as I have often 

 seen them turn out of the net some thirty or more pounds 

 at a haul. At a good high tide a haul through Breydon would 

 produce a lot." t 



Among the few interesting crustaceans I have met with this 

 year I may mention two Edible Crabs (Cancer pagurus) : one on 

 May 18th, which had an extra point depending at a right angle 

 from the fixed chela, on the right-hand ; and another on July 

 20th, that on the left-hand claw had an extra point on the free 

 chela, the point that met the fixed chela having a bifurcated end. 



On August 17th Mr. Edward Peake sent me from Triming- 

 ham, on the Norfolk coast, a very beautiful specimen of the 

 Velvet Fiddler Crab (Portunus puber) that had been taken by a 

 local fisherman, and which I afterwards presented to the Norwich 



* It is here a generally accepted fact that " running " Eels, known also as 

 " silver bellies," are of a far less muddy and " fulsome " flavour than those 

 fat, ruddy-bellied fish netted in marsh ditches and stagnant waters. 



f I do not think this would be the case, as those two or three who trawl 

 for bait on Breydon catch but very few, and the draw-nets only occasionally 

 bring in two and three fair-sized Eels, among the Smelts, on a single tide. 

 Some years ago, however, a German named Hausemann, a quaint character, 

 endeavoured to introduce one variety of German " kultur " on local waters 

 by eel-trawling, towing his net behind a dilapidated little steam-launch, 

 which cost him .£80, and another £20 in tinkering it up. Each haul 

 accounted for a half to three quarters of a stone — a payable quantity on 

 occasion. I have dealt more largely with this character in ' Man and 

 Nature in Tidal Waters,' pp. 208-210. I venture only to add that one night 

 a wooden plug, stuck in a weak spot in the boiler, was shot out when the 

 pressure of steam suddenly went up to 120 lb. (80 lb. being a dangerous 

 figure), scaring the fellow almost out of his wits. This, after he had told 

 his man, "Damme ! I can do surely vat Hikes mit mine own poat ! " He 

 next invented iron eel-pots that had originated in his distorted brain ; these, 

 when tried, became buried in the mud, and very soon covered with silt 

 and ooze. 



