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light, that one man can easily manage it from a boat, an anchor being thrown out to keep it steady.

The iron which encloses the net is made semicircular, with one side flat; so as to enable the fishermen to detach oysters from the rocks as well as to raise them from sandy bottoms; on which places I have also seen them in tolerable quantities: but the majority are generally to be found on rocks; and some so tightly adhesive, that you cannot possibly detach them, except they are in such shallow water as will enable you to come into close quarters with them.

For this sort of fishing it is necessary that the day be fine and clear, and perfectly calm; if there be the slightest ripple on the surface, or clouds moving about, it will be impossible to operate successfully. Oysters have so slight a power of locomotion, that a bed may be easily made by laying them down on any suitable seacoast which can be protected. Their movement is confined exclusively to the impulse, or jerk, which they give themselves by the opening and shutting of their shells, so that there can be no apprehension of losing them if they remain unmolested.

On rocky ground covered with sea-weed, I have frequently found them in considerable numbers; and if it happens that any rivulet, or stream

of fresh water, empties itself immediately where there is a bed of oysters, the flavour of the latter is considered to be greatly improved by this circumstance. They cast their spawn in

May. This appears like drops of wax or grease, adhering to any rock, stone, or hard substance on which it may fall. Shells supervene in a few days; but the oyster is of slow growth, not reaching maturity under three years.

The large rock oyster is undeniably, for curries, stewing, and for vol-au-vents, better than the lobster; inasmuch as it is quite as delicious, and much more wholesome.

Oysters are out of season during the summer months, i. e., from the end of April till August or September; being thin, and of bad flavour, Oysters invariably rest and adhere to the bottom on which they are found by the convex shell, the flat one being uppermost; by which means the liquid which they imbibe is retained in the cup of the lower shell. In the Milton and Colchester oysters the cup of the lower shell is very small, but in the rock oysters it is deep and capacious.

The oyster, I believe, never quits, changes, or renews its domicile of shell; but the lobster is said to cast its external covering every year, the new tenement in its growth gradually forcing off the old one; but the animal being in a defenceless condition for a few days, is said by fisher

men to conceal himself till the new shell, which is soft and tender in the first instance, becomes firm, hard, and capable of resistance; he then sallies forth fearlessly to gratify his voracity by seizing all the prey that may come within his reach. The discarded shell is comparatively so small, when contrasted with the newly equipped animal, that it seems quite wonderful how the former could have ever contained the latter; but in lobsters of only one year old it is presumed that the growth is rapid immediately on the old shell being discarded, and continues so long as the new exterior remains tender, which is thought to be about from two to three days; and this may explain the sudden difference of size. As lobsters are very pugnacious, they frequently have their claws broken off in their conflicts; but, singular to state, nature very soon repairs this damage, as a new claw grows from the old joint, but never, although perfect in other respects, attains the length or size of the old one. precise place of the fracture is very discernible.

The

SEITH AND LEITH FISHING,

WITH ROD AND LINE, WITH WHITE FLY, BY NIGHT, IN THE SOUND OF JURA.

At the northern end of the Sound of Jura, which is about eight or nine miles in breadth and twelve in length, there is a small rocky island, lying north and south, nearly midway between Jura and the south-eastern part of North Knapdale, and about five miles from Crinan, in the immediate vicinity of which there is excellent rod fishing, for seith and leith, during the months of May, June, and July, whenever the weather may be favourable. May and June are, however, the best months, as the seith and leith occasionally, during the month of July, desert their usual places of resort in quest of the young herring. This sport commences about ten minutes after sunset; and if the moon be at the full, or thereabouts, and the night fine and calm, may be carried on till eleven o'clock, and sometimes as late as even twelve; and be recommenced at about two o'clock in the morning, and continued till about half an hour before sunrise, when the innumerable multitudes of fishes which have enlivened the surface of the water simultaneously disappear, and the sport ends.

The island in question is almost a barren rock,

rising in the centre some twenty feet above the surface of the water. The sides, in many parts, slope down to the water's edge; thus affording an easy access to small boats, especially as the sea is perfectly calm at the sides, the current being diverted by the opposing ends of the island, as the tide flows north and south, flowing to the north, and ebbing southwards. The upper part of the rock is rough, rugged, and uneven, with a few straggling tufts of grass here and there, intersected by hollow spaces holding water. This spot is the resort of innumerable sea swallows and sea gulls. The former, which are not visible during the winter months, make their appearance in this vicinity on the 15th of May; and as they commence breeding in June, and select islands of this description for the purpose, their eggs may be found in great abundance, two or three together, in any small cavity on the surface of the rock, without scarcely any semblance of a nest. The eggs are about the size of the golden plover's egg, and somewhat similar in appearance, although not so uniform and regular in size and colour. When boiled hard, they are almost, if not quite, as good to eat. I have sometimes found on two small islands as many as 200 in one day, and as many more after an interval of four or five days.

The island of which I have commenced the de

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