242 PHYSOSTOMI. 



Anguilla fluviatilis, Heckel and Kner, Suss, w. f. p. 319. 



Anguilla cuvieri, bibronii, savigni, morena, marginata, microptera, altirostris, 

 platycephala, nilotica, Mgyptiaca, Kaup, Apodal Fish. pp. 32-41, fig. 16-29. 



Anguilla hibernica, Couch, Fishes Brit. Isles, iv, p. 328, pi. ccxxxv. 



Anguilla sinensis, and macroptera, McClelland, Cal. Journal, Nat. Hist, iv, 

 pp. 406, 407, pi. xxv, f. 1-2. 



Anguilla Linnei* Malm, Fauna, p. 590. 



Sharp-nosed-eel, Dublin-eel, Broad-nosed-eel, Snig-eel, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, 

 iv, pp. 326, 328, 330, 331, pis. ccxxxiv, ccxxxv, ccxxxvi. 



( Young.) 



Beardless Ophidium,\ Penn. Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1776) iv, Appendix, p. 346, pi. 

 xciii (Ed. 1812) iii, p. 208, pi. xxix. 



(Monstrosities .) 



As already observed (page 3) the eel is subject to so many variations 

 depending upon local causes that I do not think we possess more than one fresh- 

 water species in these islands, and which is almost cosmopolitan in its range. 



D. A. and C. 480-500, P. 17-18, Vert. 114-116 (fflff). 



Lower jaw the longer : the length of the head 2 to 2| in the distance from 

 the snout to the origin of the dorsal fin, and from 3| to 3f to the commencement 

 of the anal fin. Body cylindrical as far as the anus, posterior to which it becomes 

 more and more compressed. Lips broad and fleshy, (latirostris,) or narrow, 

 (vulgaris :) the maxilla extends backwards to beneath the middle or hind edge of the 

 eye. Eye rather small, diameter 8 to 12 times in the length of the head : 

 about 1 to 2 from the end of the snout, If apart. Teeth cardiform in the 

 jaws and vomer. Fins the dorsal commences far behind the head as already 

 observed. The anal arises about the length of the head behind the origin of 

 the dorsal fin, and a little in front of the middle of the total length. Scales 

 small ones under the epidermis and imbedded in mucus. Colours variable, 

 generally dull olive along the back, and white or yellow along the abdomen, 

 fins darker than the body, except the first third of the anal. Among the outward 

 signs by which a male eel may be recognized, says O. Hermes, is a very striking 

 metallic or bronze colour. % 



Varieties. In colour, piebald, yellow, white, silver, green-bellied, or with a 

 longitudinal yellow band along the back. I obtained a yellow one at Cheltenham, 

 February 1st, 1880. Rutty observed white-bellied or silver eels are the best 

 because they live on a sandy and gravelly bottom, whereas those that live in mud 

 are yellow-bellied and of a less grateful taste. 



Several distinct species of common eel have been reputed to occur in this 

 country (see page 240), but which appear to be differences due to sex or 

 dependant on sterility. The following are the more striking forms : (1) The 

 "grig" or "glut-eel," Anguilla latirostris, a variety of a small size, having a 

 broad head and snout, the dorsal fin commencing further back than in the next 

 variety, the distance between its origin and that of the anal fin being less than 

 the length of the head, while its dorsal fin is lower and its eyes larger than in 

 the sharp-snouted form. It is mostly found in brackish water and in the vicinity 

 of the sea, rarely ascending rivers any distance above the tides. This is the 

 male. (2) The " sharp-snouted eel," A acutirostris, which is the common form 

 that is taken when descending in large numbers to the sea in the autumn for 

 breeding purposes. Its snout is sharp, its dorsal fin higher and its eye 

 ; mailer than is seen in the male. This is the female. (3) There is also a well- 



* Anguilla Meneri, Giinther, Fishes of the Porcupine Expedition from the North Atlantic, is 

 a small Gadoid, as previously observed by Couch, and the young of a Lycodes (Day, Pruc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1862, p. 536, C. rig.). 



f See P. Z. S. 1849, p. 84, also ante vol. i, p. 209, respecting Ophidium imlerbe of Montague 

 ai d others. 



| See Proceedings Royal Society, 1868, pp. 230 and 343, for an account of the lymphatic heart 

 in the eel's tail. 



