Canavan. — On Eels. 191 



Abt. XXII.— Oh Eels. 

 By E. O'H. Canavan. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 13th July, 1892.'] 



Moke than forty years ago a friend of mine asked me if I 

 ever studied the habits of eels, or if I knew how they propa- 

 gated their species. He further told me that it was worth 

 any trouble I might take to study the subject. He afterwards 

 gave me such advice as he thought would assist me. He was 

 a gentleman who had travelled much, and who was very fond 

 of hunting. He made some expeditions to North America, 

 where he spent years hunting ; and he wrote a book contain- 

 ing an account of them, which showed that he possessed 

 a sound knowledge of natural history. This gentleman's 

 name was Captain John Palliser, of Cummeru Lodge, 

 County Waterford, who, I regret to say, has not lived to 

 learn the results of the inquiry he then started. 



My first step was to inquire among the old residents of 

 the country, as I found that they had traditions which often 

 lead an inquirer on the right path. But in this case I 

 was disappointed. Some said that eels came from horse- 

 hair ; others said they came from the eggs of a fly ; and 

 others said they travelled over the land from one stream or 

 pool of water to another. They all agreed on one point — 

 viz., that, no matter where a hole deep enough to get filled 

 by percolated water was made near any river or pool, 

 that hole of water very soon became inhabited by eels. 

 They even made use of this fact to prove their various 

 assertions. I found that in various rivers of the country 

 weirs were fixed, and that the eel-fishing w y as carried 

 on during the late winter and early spring. These fisheries 

 are very valuable, a rental of thousands of pounds being 

 paid annually for the privilege of fishing at one weir. This 

 was my first clue — viz., that at a certain season every 

 year eels went in numbers down the rivers towards the tidal 

 waters. I found that eels travel and feed at night, and that 

 they sometimes travel in the dark waters of a flood. I found 

 that in the latter end of the fishing-season eels contain a 

 lining of fat on each side, lying just as the layers of ova lie in 

 the oviparous fish. On inspecting this fat with a powerful 

 glass I found it to be contained in minute cells, and that it 

 very much resembled ova. I therefore, by the advice of 

 Captain Palliser, had the fat of twelve eels treated in the 

 same manner that the ova of trout and salmon are hatched ; 

 but at the end of three months I could render this fat into oil 

 just as I could eel-fat not so experimented on. This con- 



