136 Mr. Bell on the structure and use of the 
strikes us as indicative of some peculiar object to be attained 
by it. The secretion of powerful odours is generally con¬ 
fined, in other animals, to the neighbourhood of the genera¬ 
tive organs ; and we find glands of this description on each 
side the cloaca, even in the animal now under consideration. 
These must be considered in some cases as furnishing a 
defence against the attacks of enemies, and in others, as 
serving some office connected with the sexual function. In 
the present instance, however, these objects are obviously 
incompatible with the situation of the gland, and we must 
seek for some other uSe to which the secretion may be applied, 
in accordance with this peculiarity. 
The predilection of many species of fish for all strongly 
odorous substances, is well known to every one who has 
observed the habits of this class of animals, and is often made 
subservient to the objects of the angler. From the earliest 
periods, in fact, at which angling was considered as a sport, 
and rules laid down for its successful prosecution, baits were 
directed to be imbued with strongly scented oils and extracts, 
for the purpose of rendering them more attractive. In a 
book printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1496, and which is a 
republication of the celebrated book of St. Albans, with the 
addition of “ The treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle,” 
the following direction is given, amongst others, for taking 
pike. “ Take a frosshe (frog) and put it in asa fetida, and 
caste it in the v/ater wyth a corde and a corke, and ye shall 
not fayl of hym. And yf ye lyst to have a good sporte, 
thenne tye the corde to a gose fote ; and ye shall se gode 
halynge whether the gose or the pyke shall have the better.” 
Walton, and every subsequent writer on angling, has given 
