;57('. 'I'lIK I'UESII-WATEK FISHES OF EUROPE. 



Iniries itself iu mud. It is said often to leave the water to seek food on the 

 grass and on cultivated fields. It certainly may sometimes leave the water, 

 but we are aware of no evidence concerning the reason for this habit. Yarrell 

 suggests that Eels hunt frogs, and it is quite possible that, observing the 

 tadpoles leave the water as they become frogs, the Eels may follow them; or, 

 as worms leave the ground at night, they may not improbably hunt worms. 

 It has also l)een suggested that they quit unsuitable waters to find others which 

 please them better. 



The Eel is proverbially tenacious of life. It can remain for a long time out 

 of water, perhaps because the narrow gill-opening enables the gill-chamber to 

 retain some moisture. It is susceptible to changes of temperature, and is 

 absent from the northern part of Scandinavia, apparently owing to the cold of 

 winter. As the cold season comes on. Eels which have not gone down to the 

 sea, everywhere bury themselves, and again become active in the s])ring. 

 Yarrell quotes Mr. Young as stating that on moving a gravel bank in the 

 River Shin in Sutherland, in October, he found it swarming with young Eels 

 at a depth of six to fifteen inches. Mr. Young concluded that the Eels had 

 spawned in the gravel, but it seems more probable that the cold weather had 

 driven them under ground to enjoy the radiated heat of the earth. 



Desmarest, of the Jardin des Plantes, had an Eel which had been 

 domesticated for thirty-seven years. From 1838 till 1853 it was kept in a 

 large earthen pan in a room, the water being changed once a week. The 

 vessel was too small for it to rest otherwise than coiled. It was subsequently 

 placed in summer in a large zinc tank holding twenty buckets of water, 

 changed every fortnight; but returned in winter to the smaller vessel. It 

 was fed on beef sliced into worm-like forms, which were seized upon while 

 falling, but were never eaten after they had reached the bottom. It refused 

 worms and little fishes, and would take neither bread nor vegetable substances. 

 It took food freely from April till Octol)er, and during the winter abstained 

 from all nourishment. During the hot season it fed only once a week. It 

 was perfectly tame, recognised those who fed it, and never bit any one. It 

 swam only in the morning and evening ; but when the temiicrature grew 

 hotter, its movements were more active. In the month of ]May it beeame 

 more (piiet even than in the winter, and then deposited small white Ixxlies 

 which were regarded as eggs. It subsequently became greatly agitated, and on 

 two occasions threw itself out of its tank, and was found on the gravel, where it 

 remained without movement, nearly dead. On another occasion it was frozen 

 iu winfer, but by thawing with tepid water was lilx'rated. larrell speaks of 

 an Eel llial was frozen and buried in the snow, and then al'ler four days placed 

 in water and slowlv (hawed, when it soon recovered. 



