COMMON ICKI.. 



in Ml 



sioiied in UiliT td lisli the i;i\cr Anui at I'isa iK'twcen 

 tlie l)i'i(liic' nearest to tlie sea and tlic inidillc l>ri<lge, 

 took within tlie space of 1i\-e liotirs more (lian .'i.OOO 

 ponnds of I'.els in seines alone Anotliei- tivhernian of 

 the same ri\'er. onh half a mile (."),(.)<)() puces) from the 

 sea, ean^u'lit jnst at da\lireak more than liHO pounds (_)f 

 Eels which were so \'oung and small that aliout 1.01)0 

 of them went to the jiotind — I mean a Tuscan pound, 

 which contains 1:^ ounces. I'mt not all the luds aic of 

 the .same size when tlie\' enter fresh water": 1)\ fai' the 

 greater nundjer measure', aecdrdini;' to his ;ip]ieuded ti- 

 gnrcs, about 35 — ')'^ mm., the remainder ahout 70 — 

 140 mm. ( )ii the same experience the great Eel-tishery 

 of the lagoons off Comaechio, at the mouth of the Po, 

 has been based since time immemorial. Here the ex- 

 tensive sy.stem of lagoons lias been disided ])\ means 

 of dams and dikes into bro:id> and canals, \\lieri' the 

 Eels can lead their fresh-water life. E\ery year, on 

 the 2nd of Eebruarw all the sluices are opened, free 

 ingi'ess from the Adriatic being thus afforded to the 

 ascending Elvers, which struggle up against the current, 

 swollen as it is by the winter rains. By far the greater 

 nundier of them are under G — 8 mm. in length, accord- 

 ing to jACoiiv. (_)n line days they keep to the bottom; 

 at night and in cloudy weather they s\\ini nearer to 

 the surface. This Eel-fare, called by the Italians nioii- 

 tafa (the French moiifee), lasts three months. Towards 

 the end of Ajiril the sluices are closed. They are again 

 opened at the end of Septend)er, when the summer 

 drought has so I'cdueed the volume of tlie lagoons that 

 the water of the Adriatic streams in. At this season 

 the sexual instinct awakes in the old Eels — from 4 to 

 6, or, according to some, as much as 10 A'ears of age — 

 and thev set out on their seaward migration. But their 

 path is barred by the fisherman's devices; inti'icate 

 systems of weirs guide them into large baskets, where 

 the Eels lirst congregate, to be afterwards transferred 

 to the broad boats which we have mentioned above. 

 This fishery with all its contrivances depends on a 

 knowledge of the migrations undertaken by the Eel, 

 and was already old when TmujiATo Tasso, in his La 

 Genigalemmc JJberata, com]iared TANrr.Kn in the am- 

 bush to the Eels in this labyi'inth. 



In Sweden too, time out of mind, the fisherman 

 has set Eel-nets (lanor) and constructed Eel-traps with 



the entrance op[)0sed to the stream for the adiiiittincc 

 of the descending Eels. In our ri\ers and lakes tiiis 

 downward migration begins in May, lint does not be- 

 come general until the dark nights set in, towai'ds the 

 close of .\ugiist. "In the iieighbourhoo(l of Ipsala", 

 writes SiNDKVALL. "IJarou < 'icnEiisritriM was informed 

 that before midsummer the E.els haunr the large beds 

 of reeds and horsetail on the lower course of tlie Eyris. 

 During duly ("till St. Olaf's Day", the 29th), when 

 these reed-beds ai'C cut. the\' descend into the arm of 

 Lake Millar known as E.koln. into \vliich the l"\ris falls. 

 \\ the beginning of .\ugust gi'eat (pianlitie> ol' Va-\ are 

 taken there on long-lines with 400 hooks. The Eels 

 proceed down tliis liay to Sko Land, the south coast 

 thereof, where the de])th is gi'eatest. measuring 20 — 'M) 

 fathoms. Here they are taken for a short time in the 

 middle of August, after which they disa])pear ". During 

 its sojourn in fri'sli water the Eel retains its keen appe- 

 tite; but less and less food is consumed as the sexual 

 instinct asserts itself, and as the ti'ue migrat(jry di'ess, 

 the pale belly, is adopted. Frerjuentlv tlie migrating 

 Eels knot themselves together in bunches, and large 

 bundles, often a fathom in circumference, are seen King 

 still in the lakes or trundling down the streams. (_>n 

 reaching the sea the Eel proceeds on its wa\- to the 

 spawning grounds. Their situation has not yet been 

 ascertained; but Caldekwooo" mentions a female 29' ^ 

 in. (749 mm.) long and "almost ready to spawn" that 

 was taken on the 27th of December, 1892. about 12 

 miles south of the Edihstone. or 20 miles from the 

 nearest in)int of land, Rame Head. That the Eel of 

 Swedish waters spawns partly in the Baltic, seems pro- 

 bable, \oung Eels 7 or 8 cm. long having been found 

 both in the Roslag (Upland) and in the Ljusne Elf'. 

 But the main bod\' of the Swedish raigratoi-y Eels roves 

 along the Baltic coast and round Scania out through 

 the Sound, perha|)s too, in company with Russian and 

 German Eels, through the Belts. That the Eel spawns 

 in the Cattegat, is proved b\- the multitude of Eel-fry 

 'j, — 1 dm. long so often to be observed in spring and 

 summer all along the west coast of Sweden making 

 their way into fresh water. In the north of the Sound, 

 nearer to the Swedish than to the Danish i-oast, is a 

 deep channel with more than 10, in places 20 fathoms 

 of water, where Eel-fry occur in mjriads during win- 



" km\.. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 0. vol. XII (189.=!), p. .S.5. 

 ' LiLu., Sv., Norg. Fisk.. vol. Ill, p. 392. 



