1028 



NCANDIXAVIAX I'lSHES. 



is a pro\'erl)ial ex])ressiou; and tliis (luality is of great 

 service io tin- iisli in ever\" strail. Xnr does tlie l-^el forget 

 to take advantage thereof, hut slips through the tiniest 

 openings. In order to widen the aperture, when this 

 is too small to afford a passage for its head, it has re- 

 course to the same method as that employed by a 

 F'ierasfer in gaining entrance to the l)ody of an Holo- 

 thuria (see aliove. y. 598, tig. 143). It first inserts the 

 end of the tail. From a live-well or other receptacle, 

 left without a lid, the Eel has often escaped tail first, 

 lifting itself over the edge with this part of the body. 

 The toughness of its skin is equalled by the obstinacy 

 with which it keeps stationary in the same spot, unless 

 impelled liy hunger, the sexual instinct, or fear. It lies 

 motionless among the dense water-plants of the lakes 

 or river-banks, or among tufts of weed in the sea; hides 

 under stones and in the crevices between them, or lies 

 in the tunnel which it has l)urro\\ed in the mud or 

 loose santl, its head and tail projecting at eitlier end. 

 Its caution is extremely gi-eat, and it avoids every sus- 

 picious object. An old tradition is current among the 

 fishermen that if, on its migration in a river, the Eel 

 comes to the unljarked trunk of a birch-tree jdaced 

 across the cliannel, it halts; and by laying down such 

 obstacles they force it to take tlie path leading into 

 Eel-weirs or similar contrivances. Linn^us makes re- 

 ference to this in his "coercetur trunco albo Betuhe." 

 To changes in the weather it is very sensitive, and 

 becomes greatly distressed and very restless in a thun- 

 derstorm, quitting its retreat, and falling an easy victim 

 to the seine. In winter it burrows to ;i depth of se- 

 \eral feet in the mud, and lies torpid, often in large 

 companies, to escape the cold. But it may be frozen, 

 though not too hard, and again thawed to life. Its tena- 

 city of life is kno^vn to most by exyjerience. Though 

 skinned and chop]>ed to |)ieces, it still moves. Its suf- 

 ferings, before death finally releases it, must awake the 

 pity of all. Ghastlj- is the description given by Jacoby" 

 of the Eel-roasting carried on by the Italians at Co- 

 macchio. "A large establishment for the roasting of 

 Eels is a sight during working-iiours that none will 

 forget. You see before you a living picture of hell, 

 where the damned suffer all the torments that the pious 

 imagination of mediasval painters could conceive; and 

 you are surprised at evei-y moment by the perfect re- 

 semblance to the woi-k of their pencils. In the back- 



" Der Fischfang in der Lagiine von Comaccluo nebst eiiier Dnrstelhiiir/ il 

 ' Cf. above, p. 621, Darwin's anecdote of a Diodoii. 



ground a huge door opens now and tlien, to let in the 

 full flood of daylight. Tiirough the door and over tlie 

 murky water of the canal a rower guides his broad boat, 

 mouthing execrations. He brings with him the souls of 

 the damned, the Eels, wliicli lie in writhing heaps at 

 the bottom of the boat. Tlie victims are now scooped 

 up with nets and thrown into tubs. In front of each 

 tub sits a fiend, armed with a sharp hatchet. He chops 

 into three or four pieces the wriggling bodies of the 

 large Eels, which vainly strive to escape. The small 

 Eels are cast as they are, together with these pieces, 

 into other tubs. The work is now taken up by other 

 hands, with another diabolical duty to perform, that of 

 spitting on huge skewers, up to two yards long, the 

 pieces and the live Eels in coils, one after another. The 

 spits, loaded with the still writhing pieces and the 

 wriggling small Eels, are now taken to the fire. Eiglit 

 or nine large i'urnaces, heated with great blocks of wood, 

 spread a violent heat over a great portion of the dusky 

 room. In each furnace, before and in the tire, hang 

 seven or eight of these loaded spits. They are kept 

 turning by women, who in face, age, and figure har- 

 monize well with their infernal surroundings. Each 

 gang of \\orkers, men and women, chants its song, the 

 flames roar, the smell of burning fat rises from the 

 victims, and the picture of hell is almost complete." 

 Man is here no more merciful than the beasts, which 

 in the struggle for existence reck little of each other's 

 sufferings. A different proof of the Eel's endurance was 

 iiffbrded us by the dissection of a porpoise that had 

 been found dead in the Cattegat off the coast of l!o- 

 husliin on the 29th of April, 1878. In the abdominal 

 cavity lay a dead Eel 465 mm. long. It had evidently 

 been swallowed alive by the porpoise, but had retained 

 strength and sense enough to gnaw its way through 

 the wall of one of its devourer's stomachs into the ab- 

 dominal cavity, thus inflicting death on the porj)oisc, 

 though itself unable to escape from its prison''. In 

 spite of these poAvers of endurance it is easy enough 

 to make a wriggling Eel lie still. Only cut a slit 

 across the hind part of the tail; and so great is the 

 sensitiveness of this part that the Eel becomes motion- 

 less, probably with pain. 



The Eel feeds principally by night, the time when 

 it is most active in every way. Even in the daytime 

 it may l)e enticed with a tempting bait, lint, as a 



Aalfnige, Berlin 1880, p. 83. 



I 



