GEN. ANGUILLA. SHARP-NOSED EEL. 261 



duty of £J3 per cargo used to be paid. But 

 though so much used as food, Eels cannot be con- 

 sidered as very wholesome, the great quantity of oil 

 they contain rendering them difficult of digestion. 

 A strong prejudice against them exists in Scotland, 

 occasioned probably by their serpent-like form, and 

 the pretty general impression that they are not true 

 fish. 



It is mentioned, in Griffiths* edition of Cuvier's 

 Animal Kingdom, that the skin of eels, which has 

 a consistence resembling parchment, forms the ob- 

 ject of a small trade in great cities. The property 

 of making hair grow has been attributed to it when 

 used as a fillet ; and in Tartary it is employed, 

 after being oiled, as a substitute for glass in windows. 

 To this we may add, that we have often seen it 

 worn round the arm or finger, as a cure for rheu- 

 matic pain. 



We have often seen anglers, as the most ready 

 means of killing eels, make a transverse cut in the 

 tail, under the idea that they most speedily bleed 

 to death by being wounded in that part of the body. 

 May not the destruction, in so doing, of the singular 

 pulsatory apparatus, described in our Introduction 

 as a lymphatic heart, be the means of hastening 

 death? 



The life of Eels seems to be of long duration, and 

 their growth, as is usual in such cases, is rather 

 slow. They often attain a very large size, five or 

 six feet in length, and weighing upwards of twenty 

 pounds. 



