118 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



1877. Dallmer, Herr [Head Fislimaster in Sclileswig]. Fische und 



Fischerei im slissen Wasser. Segeberg, 1877. 



[An account of young eels found in an empty sack in wliicli dead eela 

 had been transported. Not seen. Title from Benecke. ] 



1877. Land, Gordon. Fresh and Salt Water Eels. < Forest and 



Stream, viii, 1877, p. 261. 



[Records capture of eels in Grand River, a tributary of Lake Erie on 

 Canada side; in Conejos River, 1,000 miles from Gulf of Mexico, and in 

 tributary Platte River above Denver, Colo. ] 



1877. EoosEVELT, Egbert B. New Discoveries respecting Eels. 



< Forest and Stream, viii, 1877, p. 207. 



[Advances the idea that eels lived in fresh water in his trout ponds on 

 Long Island.] 



1878. Ballmer, Herr. Ueber die Fortpflanznng der Aale. < Dentsche 



Fischerei-Zeitung, i, 1878, pp. 1-3, 9-10, 17-18. 



[This interesting paper is discussed in above in section xiii. A transla- 

 tion in part appeared in Chicago Field, 1878.] 



1878. ScHOCH, Dr. Gustav [of Zuricli], and Head Fislimaster Dall- 

 MER. Noch ein Beitrag zur Aalfrage. < Deutsche Fischerei- 

 Zeitung, i, 1878, pp. 57-58 (Feb. 19). 



[A discussion between Schoch and Dallmer in which there are many words 

 and few demonstrations. Dr. Schoch, of Zurich, presents the following con- 

 clusions stated to him by Jacoby as summing up the points which maybe con- 

 sidered as essentially substantiated : First, the eel is a fresh-water fish, which 

 passes the greater part of its life in fresh water, but sj^awns in the sea. Second, 

 it is extremely improbable that the eel brings forth living young. Third, 

 the river eel of the headwaters or upper portion of the rivers is almost 

 always a female, with undeveloped ovaries. Fourth, at the age of four 

 years the eel goes down to the sea to spawn, and never returns to the fresh 

 water. Fifth, by the deposit of the eggs the life of the female is greatly 

 endangered, sometimes eels being found by thousands near the mouths of 

 rivers with the ovaries entirely empty. Sixth, the descent of the eel to the 

 sea does not appear to take jilace at any definite period ; it probably, how- 

 ever, relates to the spawning season. Seventh, the male eel is always 

 much smaller than the female, none of the former being known over fifty 

 centimeters in length. Eighth, the males never ascend high up toward the 

 headwaters of the rivers, but keep either continually in the sea or in the 

 brackish water or the lower reaches of the stream. Thus a male eel has 

 never been found in the Rhine from Basle upward. Ninth, nothing is known 

 definitely about the spawning season. Tenth, according to all that is known, 

 it is probable that the eels spawn in the deep sea, perhaps not very far from 

 the mouths of the rivers. ] 



1878. Abbott, C. C. Notes on Fishes of the Delaware River. < Re- 

 port U. S. Fish Commission, iv, 1875-'76 (1878), pp. 826-845 

 (p. 82). 



[Abbott acquits the common eel of the charge of destroying large quantities 

 of ova of other fish, but states that this is a characteristic habit of the lam- 

 prey. This fish, which is found occasionally hibernating in the soft mud at 

 the mouths of some of the inflowing creeks, appears to come from the bay or 



