434 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



to comment upon the reckless waste exhibited by the Amer- 

 icans in their practice of burning oyster-shells. He states 

 that it is upon old shells that the oyster spat, or the young 

 oysters, are best able to fix themselves, and that in the ab- 

 sence of such a help a great portion of the young fry must 

 necessarily go to destruction. He thinks also that greater 

 care should be taken to throw back into the water the young 

 oysters, instead of destroying them by steaming, as is done 

 so generally when oysters are prepared for canning. 



He states that in England large sums of money are ex- 

 pended for empty oyster-shells, to be laid in the mouths of 

 the rivers for the purposes referred to, and he thinks that in 

 a little while we shall beo;in to feel the result of the short- 

 sighted policy adopted in the management of our oyster fish- 

 eries. 2 A, February 10, 1872, 97. 



PRIZE ESSAY ON THE REPRODUCTION OF EELS. 



Among the prizes offered by the Belgium Academy of Sci- 

 ences for the year 1873-4 we find mentioned one for a dis- 

 sertation on the reproduction of eels. It may seem some- 

 what singular in this era of scientific research that we are 

 not yet acquainted with the true method in which the spawn- 

 ing and reproduction of the eel is accomplished. The pres- 

 ent hypothesis is that the young are hatched in salt water, 

 and make their way up the rivers as far as they can go for 

 the purpose of spending their period of immaturity, return- 

 ing, after the expiration of a year or more, to the salt water 

 to lay their eggs, and never again quitting the -sea. This 

 movement is the reverse of that which occurs in the case of 

 the salmon and shad, these ascending to the fresh water to 

 deposit their spawn, and then going down to the sea. The 

 assertion is not unfrequently made that eels are viviparous, 

 and that the young can be seen at times in the oviducts of 

 the parent. This is a misapprehension, due to the fact that 

 this species is frequently very much infested with intestinal 

 worms like Ascarides, which occur in great number, and ap- 

 pear on dissection like embryonic fish. We can only hope 

 that the prize offered by the Belgian Academy may be suc- 

 cessful in securing a memoir that shall solve what may now 

 truly be called the "opprobrium" of modern naturalists. 3 

 ^L,J!farc/i2,1872,188. 



