MIGRATION OF EELS. 195 



autumnal flood begins to swell the rivers, 

 this fish tries to return to the sea ; but 

 numbers of the smaller ones hide themselves 

 during the winter in the mud, and many of 

 them form, as it were, masses together. 

 Various authors have recorded the migra- 

 tion of eels in a singular way, — such as Dr. 

 Plot, who, in his History of Staffordshire, 

 says they pass in the night, across meadows, 

 from one pond to another : and Mr. Arde- 

 ron (in Trans. Royal Soc.) gives a distinct 

 account of small eels rising up the flood- 

 gates and posts of the water-works of the 

 city of Norwich; and they made their way 

 to the water above, though the boards were 

 smooth planed, and five or six feet perpendi- 

 cular. He says, when they first rose out of 

 the water upon the dry board, they rested 

 a little — which seemed to be till their slime 

 was thrown out, and sufficiently glutinous — 

 and then they rose up the perpendicular 

 ascent with the same facility as if they had 

 been moving on a plane surface. — (Trans. 

 Abr. vol. ix. p. 311.) There can, I think, 

 be no doubt that they are assisted by their 



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