THE FAMILY OF EELS. 319 



where they have been discovered huddled together in large 

 numbers, apparently for the purpose of mutual warmth. In 

 spite of this, however, when the cold has become intense, it 

 has had an influence more or less fatal according to the sudden- 

 ness or otherwise of its approach. If the chill be sudden, we 

 have already said that the effect is a condition of torpidity, 

 from which restoration is possible; but if the attack be more 

 gradual, or with casual intermissions the result is mortal; and 

 very large numbers have then been discovered frozen to death: 

 an instance of which in enormous quantities as occurring in 

 the marshes of Commachio, in the neighbourhood of Venice, 

 where they are the objects of a large trade, is mentioned by 

 Spallanzani, and reported by Lacepede. Yet it is remarked 

 that they survive the cold winters of Greenland with impunity; 

 for perhaps the ice itself may prove a protection in their better 

 shelter, by its non-conducting power and little liability to 

 variation. 



Eels have been seen to devour the leaves of cress as they 

 float in the water; but their ordinary food is animal, of which, 

 however various, it is essential that it shall be fresh, and it is 

 more acceptable if alive; for their senses of smell and taste are 

 quick to reject what is even slightly tainted. But when pressed 

 with hunger they become voracious, and instances are reported 

 where they have laid hold of living animals of no small size 

 and formidable nature. The waterhen, and in several instances 

 a rat, have been found in the stomach of an Eel; and on 

 examining one that was found floating on the River Tamar, a 

 snake only a little less than the Eel itself was found in its 

 stomach. 



But on the other hand they are liable to the depredations 

 of several enemies; of which when of large growth the otter 

 is perhaps the most formidable; and the heron also destroys 

 many, although not always without danger to itself. More than 

 one instance has been known in which, while its powerful bill 

 has pierced the body of its prey, the agony of the fish has 

 caused it to twine itself round the neck of its foe and hinder 

 its flight, or cause its death. A contest between a cormorant 

 and Eel for victory and life is not a little interesting; and the 

 more so as an active Eel is not easily persuaded to pass into 

 or remain in the capacious stomach of its foe. A cormorant 



