SHARP-NOSED EEL. 39? 



motion making its way through the long grass : on further 

 observation he perceived a considerable number of Eels qui- 

 etly proceeding to a range of stews, nearly the distance of a 

 quarter of a mile from the large piece of water from whence 

 they started. The stews were supplied by a rapid brook, 

 and in all probability the instinct of the fish led them in that 

 direction as a means of finding their way to some large river 

 from whence their ultimate destination, the sea, might be 

 obtained. This circumstance took place at Sandford Park, 

 near Enstone." 



That Eels breed also in the fresh water of inland rivers 

 and lakes from which they are unable to visit the sea, is, I 

 believe, certain. A constant supply for the table is obtained 

 throughout the winter in these localities, as well as at other 

 seasons, by gamekeepers and fishermen, who have charge of 

 waters thus situated ; and no doubt exists in their minds that 

 these Eels are bred in the places from which they are ob- 

 tained, and of which the great variation that occurs in the 

 size is an additional proof. 



The Eel is a voracious feeder during certain months of 

 the year. In winter the stomachs of those which I examined 

 were empty ; by the middle of March I found the stomachs 

 of others distended with the larvse of various insects, and the 

 bones of small fishes. They are known to consume a large 

 quantity of spawn, and will attack large Carp, seizing them 

 by the fins, though without the power of doing them further 

 injury. Occasionally they eat vegetable substances, and 

 have been seen swimming about the surface of water, cropping 

 the leaves of small aquatic plants. By means of a long and 

 capacious air-bladder, Eels rise to various elevations in the 

 water with great ease, and sometimes swim very high even in 

 deep water. When Whitebait-fishing in the Thames, I 

 once caught an Eel in the net in twenty-six feet depth of 



