184 NATURAL HISTORY {Fishes. 



DIVISION III.— FISHES FURNISHED WITH HARD 



BOXES. 



These are divided into Apodal, Jugular, Tfioracic,and Jbdominal, which names 

 are taken from the want or situation of the belly-fius. 



1 . Apodal. — Belly-Fins wanting. 

 GENUS IX— THE EEL. 



Gen. Char. — Body long, slender, and slippery ; nostrils tubular ; back, anal, and 

 tail fins united ; aperture to the gills small, and placed behind the pectoral fins; 

 ten branchiostegous rays. 



Species 1. — TheCommo^i Eel. 



The Eel, Wil. Pise. 109. Rail Syn. Pise. 37. Muraena Anguilla, Lin. Si/s. 



426. Brit. Zool. III. 111. 



Eels are very common in all our lochs, bums, and in the 

 sea. They are found in many of our lochs, especially where 

 no fish else are, and even in those whose efflux into the sea 

 is over such precipices as to allow of no passage for any liv- 

 ing thing, which puzzles many of our country sages to account 

 for their getting there ; and indeed this is no easy task, if we 

 do not consider the manners of the eel ; how difficult it is to 



