


96 
1807, they took in a net they call a mandrague 
at Nice, a female ceplialoptera, the vacca of the 
Mediterranean fishermen. It weigned 1,328 pounds 
avoirdupois. Sometime after they captured the 
male, which weighed but 885 pounds. ‘The first 
taken fish, the femrle, was thrown into the boat 
lowing piteously, the tail having been thrust into the 
gills. ‘The male ceaselessly haunted the spot for 
two days. From time to time it wandered round 
and round the nets, searching for its lost mate where 
it had disappeared, and was finally caught in the 
mandrague that had taken its companion, but quite 
dead. 
The mandrague, the net here spoken of is pecu- 
liar to the French Mediterranean coast. It is long 
and complicated ; and divided into chambers. It is 
stretched out with anchors, and gathered in by seve- 
ral boats together. ‘There is something amusingly 
touching in this picture of the loves of sea-devils ; 
the moaning captive and the love be-gone wanderer 
seeking his lost one. The lover finds no solace 
but in dying in the toils in which the dear object of 
his affections had perished. The old feeding ground 
ceases to be pleasant. Whata difference between 
love and every other desire. ‘ Dinner is taken 
away as soon as over and we regret it not. It re- 
turns again with the return of appetite. The beef 
of to-morrow will succeed the mutton of to-day, as 
the mutton of to-day succeeded the veal of yester- 
day, But when once the heart has been occu- 
pied by a beloved object, in vain would we at- 
tempt to supply the charm by another. [low easily 
