37*^ THE FUESIl-WATER FISHES OF EFKOPE. 



The eg'g's steadily increase in size during- the hiter part of the year. In 

 August their diameter is •()!) of a millimetre; in September '10 of a 

 millimetre; in October 'IG of a millimetre, and in November from iS to 

 •2-"3 of a millimetre. Nevertheless, fishes were found later, in December and 

 January, in the rivers and Ilaffs on the Prussian coast, with e^f>;s havim^ a 

 diameter of only Oo to (I!) millimetre. Hence it a])pears that the Eels which 

 weregoiui^ to spawn had already left for deeper water, and that all Eels do not 

 spawn every year. 



The young- come up from the sea in myriads, travellinf^ in North Germany 

 at niij^ht in March and April, or in some streams as late as May. Old fishes 

 have never been observed returninj^ with them, so that the old Eels which run 

 tlown to the sea on stormy nig-hts in the autumn, are lost to the fisherman. 

 Crespon records seeing", near the mouth of the Rhone, a mass of these young- 

 Eels, each about two inches long-, united into a hug-e globular lump. It 

 constantly rose and descended in the water ; and the young gradually became 

 detached into a kind of rope, and ascended the river, keeping to the banks, 

 and entering every creek and tributary. The procession lasted for fifteen days. 



Dr. Ehlers saw a similar migration in the Elbe. The young Eels, three to 

 four inches long, kept so close to the bank that they followed its every outline, 

 in a band about a foot wide and of unknown depth, which was observed to 

 ])ass without intermission for nearly two days. These great swarms, however, 

 are not observed every year. In Britain the Eel-swarms, in Sutherland and 

 the more northern rivers, come up the rivers in April or May, and the similar 

 Eel-fare in the Thames is usually at the same period. 



When the young are observed in May they rarely reach a length of four 

 inches, but when they go down stream in October the length is nine and a half 

 to ten inches. * 



In the rivers and lagoons on the coast of Italy the fry of the Eel, according 

 to Professor Giglioli, swarm during December, January, and February, in 

 countless myriads. They are vermiform and semi-transparent, are known as 

 Lec/ie, and give occasion for active fishing. 



In some localities, the Elvers, as the Eel fry are termed, are caught, scoured, 

 cooked, and made into cakes, which are sometimes, in the west of England, cut 

 in slices, and fried. Before the middle of this century the New River Water 

 Company in London occasionally distributed Elvers with its water, so that it was 

 no unusual circumstance for a number to be found in a cistern, and for water- 

 pipes to be occasionally stopj)ed by Eels, which hail found their way into them, 

 though this accident has since been guarded against by improved filtration. 

 With the slightest assistance they ascend waterfalls, and the Irish pi-oprietors 

 have for a lon<i- time constructed ladders c»f straw ]»ands to aid their ascent. 



