176 EELS. 



common Eel-spear — which was used by the Greek fishermen to take the Flat-fish {Pleuronec- 

 iidce) on the sand. He also says that Eels in the Strymon were taken at the time of the 

 rising of the Pleiades, when the stormy winds stirred up the mud, and that at other times 

 it was useless to try to obtain them.* In modern days the best time for catching large 

 numbers of Eels is after heavy storms and floods. Aristotle gives as a reason for their being 

 caught at these times, that Eels having small gills are soon suffocated if the water is muddy. 

 The following ingenious mode of angling as adopted by the Grecian youth is given by 

 Oppian : — t 



"With ludicrous device, in slimy bays, 

 Some boy the silver volum'd Eel betrays; 

 A sheep-gut's humid length his hand protends. 

 Below the perforated line descends. 

 The Fish sucks down the bait with rav'nous joy, 

 And gives the tugging signal to the Boy; 

 To th' opposite Extream his lips adjoyn. 

 And fill with crowded air the rounding Line. 

 Swoln with the springy blast the entrail strains, 

 And binds the captive's throat with airy chains; 

 The imprison'd winds his straitened jaws dilate, 

 And fills his heaving breast with bloated fate. 

 Panting he rolls, and struggles all in vain, 

 A floating captive to the youthful swain." 



Eels were also taken in wicker baskets with narrow necks,:}: as with the moderns ; they 

 were sometimes decoyed into earthenware vessels covered with colander-shaped lids, and baited 

 with bits of cuttle-fish or other tempting morsels ;§ they were kept by the Romans in their 

 fish-ponds {vivaria), ready at hand for the table when required. Pliny states that immense 

 numbers of Eels used to be taken in the lake Benacus (Lago di Garda), in the territory of 

 Verona, — through which lake the river Mincius flows, — generally in the month of October, 

 when the waters were disturbed, and that masses of more than a thousand in number were 

 often taken by the traps (excipulis.) placed in the stream. Eels were sometimes caught by 

 stirring up the mud of the ponds and lakes in which they were found ;|| hence the Greek 

 proverb, e^-^iKw; e-qpaadai, "to fish for Eels," or, as we should say, "to fish in muddy waters," 

 with the political meaning of disturbing a state for the sake of gain ; thus the sausage seller 

 addresses Cleon, "Yes, for it is with you as with Eel-catchers, when the lake is still they take 

 nothing, but if they stir up the mud they have good sport ; so have you when you disturb 

 the state." 



It is well known that the mode of procreation of Eels has for ages been a puzzling 

 question ; and there is still something wanted to complete our knowledge of the general 

 subject. Aristotle, after asserting that Eels are not produced from ova, or, as some persons 

 have stated, from the metamorphosis of intestinal worms into young Eels, goes on to tell us 

 what he conceives to be the true mode of generation. "They are produced from what are 

 called the entrails of the earth {m tuv KaXovfievoov 7?;^ evrepuv), which exist spontaneously in mud 

 and wet earth. Some have been observed to make their escape from these things, and others 

 have been apparent in them on being dissected. Such things are produced in the sea, and 

 in rivers where is much putrefaction, in such places in the sea which abound in sea-weed, 



* Historia Animalmm, viii. 4, § 5, ed. Schneider. 



t Halieutics, iv. 559, Jones's translation. Julian {Nat. His/., xiv. 8) has described a similar mode of catching 

 Eels. The modern method of "bobbing with a bunch of grubs strung on worsted," if not so ingenious, is doubtless 

 more successful. 



\ Nassis. "Nassa est piscatorii vasi genus, quo cum intravit piscis, exire non potest." — Festus, s. v. 



§ FlisL Aniin. iv, 8. § 12. || Aristoph., Nub., 559. 



