If after reading the above quotation any person should fancy that in his mind's eye he perceives at many sea-side places, scores of hardy, weather-beaten fishermen walking about, each armed with nothing but a box filled with salt, wherewith to bamboozle the Spout-Fish, he will be most lamentably deceived. True it is, this plan is sometimes adopted by children and amateur naturalists, but by fishermen--never. Instead of a salt-box, these, when in search of their favourite bait, always carry a kind of harpoon, formed of a piece of iron rod, the end of which is sharpened to a point. Having witnessed the Solen throw up his jet of water, and retire beneath the soil, the fisherman suddenly plunges his instrument into the orifice. Should the action have been skilfully performed, the rod will have pierced the animal between its valves, which instantly retract upon the intruding object. To draw the fish to the surface is then a comparatively easy task. If the first plunge of the rod be not successful, the fisher knows full well it would be futile for him to repeat the attempt, as the object of his attack would quickly burrow itself down to such a depth as to render pursuit hopeless. Juveniles at the sea-side, imitating the plan above described, become by practice very expert in procuring specimens of the Razor-Fish by means of a piece of wire sharpened at one end. CHAPTER XXIV. A Gossip on Fishes &c., INCLUDING THE ROCKLING, SMOOTH BLENNY, GUNNEL-FISH, GOBY, ETC. [Illustration: 1 SMOOTH BLENNY 2 VIVIPAROUS BLINNY 3 SPOTTED BLENNY or Gunnel-Fish 4, 5, 6 THE MONTAGU SUCKER-FISH (Three illustrations.) 7 SUCKER of THE MONTAGU SUCKER-FISH] XXIV. One of the best _bons mots_ that I ever remember to have read was entitled, 'Punch's Address to the Ocean'-- 'With all thy faults I love thee _still_.' Any landsman who finds himself occupying a seat in a fishing-smack or oyster-boat while a stiffish breeze is blowing will, I am sure, with great mental fervour echo the above sentiment. For myself, I can never take even a short trip on the water without experiencing some unpleasantness--proving to me that the sea is not 'my element.' Still, I am one of those to whom the 'salt ocean' is endeared by early recollections, having been, when a child, frequently among the aged and mutilated veterans of our country who vegetate on the banks of the 'silver Thames.'