11 



/■, Siihiild. \\v ("ill,-- lln>r Iiiil;!' yt'llnw (/('Is ytrrilc : lln'V ai'c im iinirc sterile 

 lliari all ntlicr yellow fcls thai have not spawiUMl liel'oi'o. and it is iunusiiig 

 to soe his si-icutitic' indignation against the lagoon-iishernien, wlio iuive 

 tlic same word ' Pasciitti« for the large, frog-mouthed yellow eels as well as 

 for all the little yellow eels, males as well as feniales. »iVscj«/«'«, in the 

 iHoutli i)f a lag(i(in-lislierinaii, is (aecording to Ji'froi//) exactly the same as »yel- 

 low eels« in the nionth of a Danish fisherman. The seientilic justice of this 

 apiiellation has loug heen overlooked, and Jacoby overlooked it conipletely. — 

 1 shall not deeide whether Jacoln/s translation of the word Pasciidi is correct, 

 liut if the tisheruien at Coniacchio really have a conunou iiame for the eels 

 whieh do not inigrate, which in autumn do not go to the Hshing-gear, hut 

 whii-h eat all the year round •. then this name snits vcry well the eels in 

 growing-dress. Jacohij has not imagincd the possihility that the »sterile 

 W'eihchen« should be ahle to ehange their outer.appearance, as he did not 

 know that also the eel has a jiai-ticular breeding-dress; as a matter of course, 

 therefore, he could not agree to using the same appellation for these large feniales 

 and for the young »norniah< eels, which also comprise all the later on mi- 

 grating uiies*). 



It still remains to mention the very peeuliarity which has been 



The iiljovo view of tlie frogmuutliod eels as large, normal, yellow female.s, 

 which iiuite naturally presents itself when we i-oiiii)are their sexual organs 

 with tlio.se of other yellow eels, and when we see that the yellow eels ehange into 

 silver eels, I have set forth for the first time in a preliminary note in Dansk 

 Fiskoriforenuigs Medlenishlad-, Xoveniher 180;5. In a wuy we inight certainly <all 

 these eels as on the whole all yellow eelsj »sterile« sinee they have never bred, but 

 this nse of the word, nevertheless, is uot allowahle. 



In Zeitschrift f. Fischerei' 1893. No. 4 (whieh I kuow oiily trom an extract 

 in ».Svensk Fiskoritidsskrift«. 1893. 153 — 156) E. SeHnebut/cii-Coiiiisa nientions an 

 experiment he has made witli the breeding of female eels; he thinks he has seen 

 tliat large, ycllow-coloured, broadnosed, small-eyed female eels have (■hange<l theirouter 

 appearance, and that their ovaries touk the ai)pearance of tho.se which we tind in 

 eomnion eels. 



He himself so.ems tu dunbt, liowever, whether the experiment has beeu made 

 under sutticient control. 



.\fter the above ha.s been printe<l I see that the Italian ingeneer G. S. Bidlii in bis 

 l'ieihioiii sidld LiKjioKi di Cuiuaccliia 1HU4, which he lias sent me, and which chietly tmns 

 U)ion the solution of praetical ipiestions attached to thisgreat iembankingundertakiiig-, 

 lias observed (p. 7) that >Lc aiujitdle diaccnduiio spontaneanunte al mare ijiiiandu ahhianu 

 i-esfita un'apposifa dkim di colore piii lucido con . . . GU empirici coltiviitori le chiamano 

 ulliira (inguiUa femencdi o miylia bisati femetudi.f — conse(|uently that the eels get a 

 particular dress when they emigrate to the sea, i. e. beeome silver eels; and p. (J2 

 B>ill(> says niii-iitrr <iiiilh' rhe u<m nndacano al iiuirr (paacinfi) feimero trucnto, secoiidn 

 i Jacoby con ovaia abortita c scroiido i/uanfo io credo, sono aiigxdie eon nraia eiiibrioiialc. 

 He suppo.«es then currcctly in contradistinetion to Jacoby lliat paseiufi the yellow 

 eels) are eels with embryonal vyouthful) sexual organs. 



