314 Further Observations on some 



them * ; but B^lon found them of very large size in the Island 

 of Lemnos. 



The eels which were the subjects of my observations and 

 experiments were procured from the outer pier at Polperro, 

 in the month of February ; and, though the season was so 

 cold that a sheet of ice was left on the beach when the tide 

 receded, they seemed to have lost nothing of their activity. 

 Placing a portion of this roe in the field of a powerful micro- 

 scope, I find it consisting of globular grains, some far ex- 

 ceeding others in size ; from which I conclude that some are 

 just approaching to maturity ; and that they are excluded in 

 succession, considerable time elapsing between the expulsion 

 of the first and last. It is impossible to imagine that these 

 could ever have been hatched within the body ; and still less, 

 without that circumstance having long since been ascertained. 

 The small size of the external orifice is a further proof of the 

 same thing. To remove all doubt of this pearly substance being 

 the roe, 1 burnt a portion of it in the flame of a candle, subject- 

 ing it at the same time to the judgment of one well acquainted 

 with the smell of burnt roe of fish, which is sufficiently dis- 

 tinguished from every other smell. The individual was not 

 acquainted with the intention of my enquiry, but the decision 

 that it was the roe of fish was without hesitation. It is pro- 

 bable that the roe of the eel is rendered prolific previously to 

 its exclusion ; for Rondeletius says that he has seen eels cling 

 together like dew-worms ; it seems likely, also, that the grains 

 are not deposited or covered, but rather left to float at ran- 

 dom, as is certainly the case with many fishes. It seems diffi- 

 cult, on any other supposition, to account for the young eels 

 coming to life at the distance of two or three leagues from 

 land. Notwithstanding this distance, they soon find their way 

 to the mouths of rivers. Young eels begin to appear in 

 March, the earliest I have noted being on the 3d of that 

 month, in 1828 ; and in 1830, after minute search, the first I 

 could find was on the 24th. At this season, some are usually 

 found so transparent that every internal action and organ may 

 be examined. In making observations on eels, I have found 

 mucli difficulty in keeping the fish in confinement ; they made 

 their escape from a large vessel, when the water was four inches 

 below the brim. One was taken in the street on its way to 

 the stream, others I never recovered ; very small ones escaped 

 with no greater difficulty than the larger. In all cases the 

 escape was by night, I believe by placing the tail over the 



* See a historico-geographical description of the north and eastern 

 parts of Europe and Asia, but more particularly of Russia, Siberia, and 

 Great Tartary; by Philip John von Strahlenberg j 4to, 1738,- p. 361. 



