352 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
more hoops; the simplest guideaux seem to lack a funnel, and therefore not to be true 
fykes, the escape of the fish being prevented by the folds of the long, tapering sack. 
The verveux differ from the guideaux in being shorter and in always having one or 
more funnels. As defined in the work referred to, the verveux are like the guideaux , 
but “in order to prevent the fish from escaping one adds at the entrance and inside a 
net large in the mouth and terminating in a point, called the goulet .” Besides the 
synonym verviers already given, a number of other names are applied to fykes in 
different parts of the country, among which are loup (wolf), renard (fox), and quinque 
portes, the latter designation being for an arrangement of five fykes such as is fig- 
ured in plate lxxxiv, fig. 4. Fykes used on parts of the seacoast are variously called 
queues , munches , sacs , and caches. 
Of the many kinds of fyke nets used in France and the various methods of setting 
them it is necessary to refer to only a few that present especially striking features. 
Some of these are figured in plates lxxxiv, lxxxv, and lxxxvi, fig. 1. 
Simple nets, with numerous hoops and without leader or wings, are common. 
The entrance is usually arched. Some are set singly and others are placed close 
together side by side, so as to more completely cover a stream or section of coast. 
Three nets of this class are illustrated. In one the fish are finally led into a wicker 
compartment similar to that seen in oriental fishing devices. 
A curious cylindrical net formed on three hoops of uniform size and having an 
entrance at each end consisting of a long funnel extending obliquely toward the top 
of one hoop and toward the bottom of the other is figured in plate lxxxiv, fig. 2. Poles 
are attached along four sides for the purpose of strengthening the net and to afford 
support to the buoy, weights, and ropes required in setting and hauling the net. 
Methods of setting fyke nets with wings and three ways of constructing the wings 
are shown in plate lxxxv. The wings are termed haies , arrets , hrayes , or tonnelles, 
according to the locality. Such nets are usually placed in localities in which the tide 
goes out rapidly and leaves them bare or nearly exposed, as at the mouths of small 
streams or bays. The net is pointed towards the water at right angles to the shore. 
These nets, besides the manner shown in the plates, are sometimes set in zigzag 
series, so that they will take fish swimming in either direction, each single wing being 
a part of two nets which face in opposite directions. 
Nets provided with wings are also in use in parts of France. Those found in 
print consist of 5 to 7 hoops, with as many funnels. The wings are corked and weighted 
and tied to large stones at their ends. The net is kept in position by being attached 
to a large stone and by having individual weights tied to the sides of each hoop. 
The method of combining a fyke net with the leader and heart of a pound net, as 
is done in the United States, is exhibited in plate lxxxvi, fig. 1. 
At a comparatively early period in France the fyke net seems to have received 
its due share of legislative attention and to have caused in some localities a marked 
diminution in the supply of fish ascending streams. Referring to the type of net 
figured in plate lxxxiv, fig. 4, it is stated that — 
Following the ordinance, an interval of 15 brasses should be left between each net. The fish- 
ermen arrange the nets so that what escapes one set of nets is caught by the other; or, altogether 
contrary to law, they set them close together, and in placing enough to occupy a great part of the river 
in this manner they catch all the little fishes which are swimming upstream and were destined to 
people the river with big fishes. The fishermen, who can not get any good out of these, throw them 
on the bank, where they infect the air ; and the result is that fisheries which twenty years ago were 
worth a thousand livres are now worth not more than 200 livres, and the fishermen are ruined. — (Traitd 
G6n6ral des Peaches, et Histoire des Poissons. 1769-1772.) 
