THE EELS. 395 



grass, and are capable of climbing almost perpendicular 

 stone banks. The so-called "Silver" Eels appear to be 

 merely those which are observed just before the breeding 

 season. According to Cunningham, the growth of the eel 

 in fresh water is not rapid, several years, apparently the 

 normal span of eel-life, having to elapse ere the elvers 

 will be ready in their turn to descend to the sea and spawn. 

 The larvae of both eel and conger have been identified, the 

 latter (known as " Morris ") in British waters, the former 

 hitherto only on the north coast of Sicily, where Professor 

 Grassi has found the larvae of the eel to be abysmal-dwelling 

 Leptocephali. The eel is capable of surviving extremes 

 of temperature, and there are instances on record in which 

 they have been thawed back to activity, though in very hard 

 weather these fish are known to lie torpid in the mud. 

 Besides the spawning journey, eels living in tidal waters 

 go down to the salt each tide and feed on garbage. One 

 of the most recent and most lucid summaries of eel- 

 development will be found in M'Intosh and Masterman 

 on the ' Life - Histories of British Marine Food -Fishes' 

 (PP- 434-460). 



The large marine Conger, a fish of almost cosmopolitan 

 range, is found in our seas to a weight of more than 

 100 lbs. In colour it is dark brown to black 

 above, white beneath, and having white spots 

 along the lateral line. There have been attempts to dis- 

 tinguish two species of conger in our seas, and the 

 fishermen speak vaguely of the black and white " kinds," 

 which are merely colour races from deep or shallow water. 

 The conger has relatively large head and eyes, the upper 

 jaw is long, the dorsal fin is continuous and has a black 

 margin, and the body is devoid of scales. Widely dis- 

 tributed in our seas, the conger is, owing to the rocky 

 nature of its habitat, found in greater numbers on the 

 west than on the east side of these islands. It feeds chiefly 

 at night, only the smaller examples weighing 6 or 8 lbs., 



