On the generation of EELS. 



It is the common opinion in this country, that Eels are produced 

 Avithout the ordinary procefs of generation ; a notion which I could 

 never conceive, as 1 have often dechired ; and 1 will lay, that it 

 this were true, there is no reafon why Eels fhould not be produced 

 in fuch quantities, as in a manner to fill all our canals. 



Nevertheless, this opinion is not only entertained among the 

 vulgar, but I have found fome rcfpe<ftable and learned men inclined 

 to favour it ; and they have gone fo far with me, as to afl'ert, tliat 

 they knew in \Ahat manner Eels were generated, which they ima- 

 gine to be as follows : 



If in the month of May, two turfs of grafs be taken and laid on 

 each other with the gralfy fides together, and before fun-fet be 

 placed in the water, fo that the grafs of thofe turfs be even with 

 the furface of the water, and if the dew fall copioufly that evening, 

 upon taking up the turfs, the following morning, feveral minute 

 Eels will be found in the grafs, which they fuppofe proceed from 

 the dew ; in confiimation of which they add, that if no dew has 

 fallen, there will be no Eels found. 



But upon examining this matter, we muft confider, that in very 

 windy weather no dew falls, and fmall Eels in cloudy M^eather, get 

 to the bottom of the water ; but the warmer and calmer the wea- 

 ther, the more is the dew that falls : moreover, thefe minute Eels 

 in warm \^-cather, fwim or creep among the leaves and greens on the 

 iurface of the water, and do moll probably, at the lame time, creep 

 among the blades of grafs near the furface ; and this, I fuppofe, has 

 given rife to the notion of their being generated in this manner. 



In farther refleding on this fubjedl, it occurred to me, that I 

 had often in fummer time, fcen boys by the fides of the ditches 

 round about this tov\'n, with fmall twigs, which they dipped among 



