MUR^ENID^E. 243 



marked, generally very broad-snouted when large, non-migratory, fierce and 

 voracious form, which is not choice in its food, and the flavour of which is 

 anything but satisfactory. These appear to be sterile females who have taken up 

 their abode in fresh waters, but as some have been observed migrating seawards 

 at the annual breeding season their sterility may only be temporary. It is rather 

 remarkable that so long ago as 1740 Williamson (British Angler) observed " he 

 and she eels may be distinguished by their fins." 



Names. Ael, Anglo-Saxon: German and Dutch, Aal : Finnish, ilja or iljaJcka, 

 " slimy," or the Esthonian ilia, " slime." Snig means a snake. Easgann, 

 Celtic, Moray Firth. Oliver, " a young eel," Devonshire : Eeleator, "a young eel," 

 in Northumberland, also Brawat : eel-fare, a brood of eels : Elvers or Elvene, young 

 eels : Fansen, a young eel (Chapman) and in Cheshire, scaffling : grig or glut, 

 "a small eel," Suffolk : yel in Somersetshire: whiffers or ivhuffers in Cornwall: 

 known in Lough Neagh as weed-eel the same as snig-eel in England {A. mediorostris) : 

 while eel, skull-eel, or brown-eel (A. vulgaris) according to Thompson, Kemp, also 

 means a sort of eel (Pasgrave) : and the fishermen of the Worcestershire Avon 

 term the large-headed variety, frog-mouthed eels. Llysowen, Welsh. A bind, 

 according to Kenneth, MSS. a.d. 1053, signifies a quantity of eels numbering 

 about 250. Anguille vtclgaire, French. 



The term eel has been thus described, the noble or adel of Italy, corrupted 

 into the aal of Germany and the eel of Great Britain. 



Habits. Adult eels prefer pure fresh water with a muddy bottom and appear 

 to be avei-se to cold. They burrow out holes or tunnels where they rest during 

 the day or conceal themselves under roots, bushwood, planks, or other suitable 

 places, sallying out for food at night-time. During the summer months they 

 may often be seen basking near the surface and lying on the vegetation growing 

 in the water. When on the feed they move about at the bottom, inserting their 

 snouts under stones, and have been seen to put up a loach and pursue it from place 

 to place as if hunting by scent. In December, 1860, an eel 39 inches long was 

 taken alive in the middle of a stubble field : there was an old pit in the vicinity 

 containing very little water (G. Hoult, Field, Dec. 1860). Especially on the 

 approach of stormy weather, they have been known to migrate over newly 

 ploughed fields or gardens, where they have been reported to consume the peas. 

 During their migrations tbey have not infrequently entered water pipes and so cut 

 off the supply. Their mode of escaping in an aquarium is remarkable : if possible 

 they commence by throwing their tail over the end of the vessel, and that organ 

 being a prehensile one, they subsequently lift themselves over and so escape by 

 their usual tortuous movement (R. Couch, Zool. p. 1829). Queckett likewise 

 remarked that elvers often progress tail foremost. Eels live a long time in 

 confinement : one resided 22 years in an aquarium, dying on August 1st, 1877, of old 

 age (Hardwicke, Science Gossip, 1877, p. 261). Mr. Daniel mentions one which 

 lived upwards of 31 years in a well and was then choked by a frog that was 

 larger than it could swallow. 



Thompson observes that from February 6th to the 8th, 1841, great quantities 

 of these fish, in a dead state, floated down the river Lagan to the quays at 

 Belfast. Four of them, measuring from one to two feet in length, were placed 

 in water warmed to a high summer temperature, but none exhibited signs of life. 

 During these two days the thermometer was 10 higher than it had been for the 

 three previous days, but there was a gale from the east accompanied by a hard 

 frost : to the human body the cold felt extreme and piercing ; the eels would 

 appear to have been in the mud which was uncovered and of course subject to 

 evaporation. Dr. Kirtland, of Cleveland, states that last winter (1850) as the 

 frost set in, a number of eels in a mill-pond, incommoded by the subsidence of the 

 ice, migrated to other ponds from which he obtained eight or ten bushels half 

 frozen. Having been placed in a cold exposed room they were as stiff and almost 

 as brittle as icicles in the morning. A tub was filled with them and water from a 

 well added, then they were placed in a warm store room for the purpose of 

 thawing. In the course of an hour or two they were resuscitated and as active 

 as if just taken during the summer (Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, Nov. 29th, 



16 * 



