Anglers and their Hooks.--Single and double Hooks.--Hook of British Columbia.--Seed of Galium, or Goose-grass, and its Armature of Hooks.--Seed of the Burdock, and its Annoyance to Sheep.--Hooked Sponge-spicules.--“Snatching” Fish.--The Fish-rake of British Columbia.--The “Gaff” and its Uses.--The Jaguar as a Fisher--Defensive Armour and its Varieties.--Plate and Chain Mail.--The Shield.--Australian and West African Shields.--Fibre Armour.--Seal’s-tooth Cuirass.--Joints of Armour.--“Tassets.”--Scale Armour in Art and Nature.--The Manis and the Fish.--Feather Armour.--“Madoc in Aztlan.”--Quilted Armour of Silk or Cotton.--Terrible Results from the latter.--Mr. Justice Maulstatute.--Natural Quilt Armour.--The Rhinoceros and the Whale.--The Testudo of the ancient Romans, and its Uses.--The common Tortoise.--The Fort.--Curious Transitions in Fort building; first Earth, then Stone, then Earth again.--Advantage of Earthen Mounds.--Natural Snow-fort made by the Elk, and its Defensive Powers against the Wolf. THE HOOK. Having now seen that the rod and line of anglers have their prototypes in Nature, we will proceed to the hook, by which the fish are secured. The two figures on the right hand of the accompanying illustration represent hooks which are familiar to every angler. The lower is the ordinary fish-hook, which can be used in so many ways. Generally it is employed singly, being fastened to the end of a line, and armed with a bait, either real or artificial. Sometimes, however, these hooks are whipped together, back to back, three or even four being so employed, and thus forming a combination of the hook and grapnel, and rendering the escape of a fish almost impossible. Above it is a double hook, such as is used in “trolling” for pike, and with the use of which many of my readers are probably acquainted. The third is a singularly ingenious hook made by the natives of British Columbia. It is almost entirely made of wood, with the exception of the barb, which is of bone. This, as the reader will see, is fixed, not to the point of the hook, as with us, but to its base, the point being directed towards the central portion of the curve. [Illustration: HYMEDESMIA. FRUIT OF GALIUM. VANCOUVER HOOK. DOUBLE AND SINGLE HOOKS.] At first sight this seems to be a singular arrangement, but it is a very effective one, as any one may see by placing the point between the fingers and pushing it through them. It will be found impossible to force it back again, the sharp point of the bone-barb coming against them and retaining them.