The Scottish Naturalist, 87 



quietly ascending the bank of the pool, and with an undulating 

 motion making its way through the long grass : on further 

 observation he perceived a considerable number of eels quietly 

 proceeding to a range of stews or small ponds, nearly the dis- 

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

 where 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 their ultimate 

 destination, the sea." 



Another extraordinary feature in the oeconomy of the 

 eel, is the spring migration of the young fry, which, soon 

 after their birth, pass to the upper waters in such compact 

 columns that they have the appearance of a gigantic cable, 

 as I have myself seen in the Shannon, packed so close that 

 anything like numbering would almost be impossible, each 

 of these tiny little creatures not being more than three inches in 

 length, and the passage continuing for many days. Mr. Yarrell 

 also mentions an instance at Kingston-on-Thames in the year 

 1832 when the passage of eels commenced on the 30th of April, 

 and lasted till the the 4th of May, when it was calculated that 

 from 1600 to 1800 passed a given point in the space of one 

 minute ; we may therefore get some notion of the enormous 

 masses assembled during this migration. 



With regard to regular migration to and from our shores, there 

 is no doubt that southern fish do visit our coast, but there is no 

 proof that these are not more than mere stragglers, many of them 

 probably finding their way to our seas by following ships, drift- 

 wood, &c., as we know to be the case in many instances; but this 

 is a study on w^hich we require much information, and until we 

 have a few more men living on our coasts willing to devote a little 

 of their spare time and give more attention to matters of Natural 

 History, like the Banffshire naturalist, Mr. Edward, who has done 

 so much in ichthyology and other branches of our land and sea 

 fauna, I fear we shall long remain in ignorance of this interest- 

 ing subject. 



A true parallel with all justice I think may be said also to 

 exist in many of the Cetacea ; one especial instance which I 

 will take, is that of the Greenland whale, (Balcena mysticetiis) 

 which with the same regularity as the swallow comes to 

 Britain, visits the warm seas of the Bermuda Islands, w^here 

 I have noticed them in large numbers arriving regularly, 

 about the last week of February or the beginning of March, 



