BREEDING PLACES OF THE EEL SCHMIDT 295 



The few metaiiiorpliosic stiiges of the American eel I had at my 

 disposal I had found in a collection of miira^noid larvae from a cruise 

 of the United States ship B ache sent me by the United States Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries, Dr. Hugh M. Smith, of Washington. The 

 work of the Bache was carried out in January, February, and March, 

 1914, in connection with tlie program of the International Council 

 for the Study of the Sea, in the Gulf Stream area and along two 

 sections between Bermuda and the United States coast. The col- 

 lection consisted of several hundred mursenoid larvae, among which I 

 found 37 specimens belonging to the genus Anguilla, taken near Ber- 

 muda or in the Avaters between there and the United States. Closer 

 examination shovred that onl}'' 6 of these 37 belonged to the Ameri- 

 can species, the remainder being larva? of AnguiUa vulgaris, 4-5 cm. 

 in length. Thus the collections from the Bache furnished additional 

 evidence of the mysterious fact that, as Ave had shown in 1913, the 

 larva? of the European eel may, even in the American waters of the 

 Atlantic, predominate greatly over those of the species of eel which 

 has its habitat in America. A remarkable feature of the case was 

 that at more than one of the B ache's stations, as also of the Mar- 

 grethe's, larvae of both species were brought up in the same net at 

 the same time. I shall later, in dealing with the investigations 

 undertaken by the schooner Dana, return to this point, which I found 

 altogether incomprehensible at the time. 



The collections of material from trading vessels had, in the five 

 years tliey covered, been of great assistance to us, first and foremost 

 by showing in what parts of the Atlantic eel larvae were to be found 

 and where they were lacking. We were, however, indebted to them 

 for more than this. During the last two years during which such 

 collections were made — 1914 and 1915— the West Indies steamers 

 had regularly brought us in larvae so small in size that we were able 

 with perfect certainty to conclude therefrom that the steamship 

 route from the English Channel to St. Thomas must pass through 

 the breeding grounds of the eel. This was indeed a point of the high- 

 est importance in the task we had before us : to chart the spawning 

 area of the eel. Ships bound to follow a certain particular route, how- 

 ever, could not, of course, assist us in ascertaining the boundaries of 

 such an area. Altogether, matters were now so far advanced that 

 we could hardly expect to gain any great further advantage from 

 occasional hauls by trading vessels. For the work now to be done 

 we needed a vessel specially equipped, which could be employed on 

 that work all the time, and follow any course laid down, as might 

 seem desirable from the results of expert examination of the material 

 on board from one station to another. 



Our endeavors were accordingly directed toward this end as soon 

 as the war ceased, and it was possible once more to think of work 



