MALACOPTERYG1I APODES. 54,'? 



The eggs of the eels, thus growing in the body of the 

 mother, cannot consequently be so numerous as those of most 

 other fishes ; but, as they can produce them at least from 

 their twelfth year, and may continue to do so, as we have 

 seen, until the hundredth, their multiplication is very con- 

 siderable : accordingly, in certain waters they are more nu- 

 merous than it would be possible previously to form any idea 

 of. Spallanzani relates that they sometimes cover the bottom 

 of the ponds of Comachio. They are scarcely less numerous 

 in certain lakes of Southern Russia, and of that part of Turkey 

 which borders upon it. In general, they are to be found in 

 the warmest, as they are in the coldest countries. In these 

 they bury themselves in the mud during winter, and remain 

 there without eating for many months together. Their im- 

 pression is sometimes to be seen in the calcareous schists, so 

 that we may be assured that they existed in the waters of 

 the ancient world. The eels, whose position allows them to 

 migrate, proceed periodically from the sea into the rivers, and 

 from these into the lakes or marshes, where they can procure 

 food. The circumstances which accompany these emigra- 

 tions, and the industrious means employed by man to turn 

 them to profit, may be seen in the work of Spallanzani, 

 already alluded to; but it seems that this eel of the ponds of 

 Comachio is a different species from those of our rivers, which 

 never go into the sea. 



The eel, notwithstanding its suppleness and vivacity, which 

 have passed into a proverb, has some enemies which it finds 

 a difficulty in escaping from. The otters, and many aquatic 

 birds, catch it with great skill, and feed upon it ; the larger 

 fishes, such as the pike and sturgeon, also make a prey of it. 



The skin of the eels has a consistence equal to parchment, 

 and forms the object of a small trade in great cities. The 

 property of making the hair grow has been attributed to it 



