IT A EEL4S. 



the Scotch there is a great antipathy to Eels ; whence derived one cannot say, unless from an 

 objection to their snake-like form.* I have known Englishmen make this objection. To a 

 question in Notes and Queries (Sept. 26th., 1863), as to whether the Scotch have any definite 

 reason for their dislike of this fish, the following reply is given : — ■" It would appear from 

 Partington's British Cyclopedia, that the Scottish objection to Eels as an article of food, is 

 mainly due to their supposed tinwholesomemss. In the northern part of Britain, in Scotland 

 especially, the prejudice of the people runs very strong, not only against the form of the 

 Eel, but ao-ainst the quality of its flesh as an article of food." And again, "Eels are held in 

 small estimation in the North ; and, even discounting their serpent-form, they are regarded 

 as far from wholesome." I shall refer by and bye to the supposed unwholesomeness of this 

 fish. I have been told of a Scotch lady who once tasted Eel inadvertently, and thought it 

 excellent; but on finding out what it was would eat no more, and has never tasted it since. 



To the naturalist the Eel is a subject of particular interest, chiefly on account of the 

 difficulty which has hitherto attended the study of its history; and although it is certain that 

 Eels are produced after the manner of fish generally, i.e., from deposited ova, much yet 

 remains in obscurity. To this point I must revert again. 



The difficulty of holding an Eel has given rise to many proverbs. " Every one knows 

 who may have tried the experiment," happily observes Dr. Badham, "every one knows that 

 to hold an Eel with the naked hand, is as abortive an attempt as detaining a pig by the 

 tail, after it has been well soaped; or, in morals, to hold a knave to his word. Hence the 

 apophthegm, t 'Anguilla est, elabitur,' 'He's an Eel, and is off;' but both rogue and Eel may 

 be held tight if we set about it in the right way." The ancient method of retaining an 

 Eel was by seizing it with some rough leaf in the hand. The fig-leaf was usually employed : 

 hence the proverb, to) ^piw iriv ev^eXw, "an Eel with a fig-leaf "J Alciati has the following- 

 epigram upon a captured rogue : — 



"Jamdudum quocunque fugis te persequor, at nunc 



Cassibus in nostris denique captus ades. • 



Amplius baud poteris vires eludere nostras, 



Ficulno anguillum strinximus in folio." — Emh. ed. 1540. 



Modern fishermen know how to retain an Eel in the naked hand without any extraneous 

 help. There is, however, but one successful mode, viz. to grasp the slippery beast in the 

 middle with the second and third fingers above and the first and fourth below. He is thus 

 held as in a vice. Gesner quotes the Greek proverb, air ovpa^ r-qv eyxeXw exet?, "You ve an 



unclean amongst the Jews, thin, round, and like a serpent, which on account of its slipperiness can only be retained 

 in the hand by being covered with sand or dust." According to the Aruck, the Eel bears the same name in Arabic, 

 though a more usual Arabic designation is enkelis, which is evidently the Greek ejx^Xv;. The modern Jews, 

 doubtless, still object to the Eel on account of its snake-like form. See Buxtorf's Lex. Talm. ct Rabbin, p. 1910; 

 Lewysohn's Zoologic dcs Talmucis, p. 264.. 



* Hence the Latin anguilla, from anguis, "a snake." Compare Juvenal, Sat. v. 103. "Vos anguilla manet longas 

 cognata colubrse." Similarly the French, Italian, and Spanish words; also the English "snig" (snake), sometimes 

 used to denote the middle-nosed variety, but often, in a general sense, any Eel. "Ed," German and Dutch aal, 

 according to Wedgwood, is from the Finnish ilja, iljakka, "slimy," or the Esthonian ilia, "slime." 



f Plautus Pseud. II. 4. 57. 



I According to the Hicroglypluca, sive de Sacris Mgyptiorum Commentarii, of J. P. Valerian Bolzani, Basil, 1755, 

 lib. xxix. De Anguilla, the fig-leaf was used for this purpose by the ancient Egyptians; for when they wished to 

 denote "certainty with regard to an uncertain object," spes certa re super ambigud, they depicted an Eel rolled up in 

 a fig-leaf. It is curious to note the correspondence of ideas, between the Egyptians and Greeks in this matter of 

 the allegorical meaning of the Eel. Bolzani states that the picture of "an Eel held by the tail" denoted "a man 

 vainly pursuing a fugitive object;" and the representation of a man engaged in catching Eels, was meant to t3-pify 

 "one who was growing rich from civil discord," such as Cicero represents Catiline and his co-conspirators, when he 

 speaks of them as men "qui, honores, quos quieta republica desperant, perturbata se consequi posse arbitrantur." In 

 L. Cat. ii. cap. ix. See further on. 



