ripe*). As to tlie size oi' tlie eggs in tlie ovary of tlie eel 1 sluill reiVr tlie 

 reader to the above quoted work by Tryhom. 



Which is the Relation between the YellowEels and the Silver ones? 



Having pointed out the differences between the yollow and the silver 

 eels, and sliown that these two forms of eels as a rule really do appear pretty 

 well distinguished in nature, and that the specimens withiu either group are 

 closely eonnected by siniilarity in several essential anatoniioal eliaracters, 

 in whicli tliey differ from the specimens witliin the otlier group, I sliall 

 state the reason why these two groups ought not to be looked upon as 

 different varieties or species, and show that Ihey are niuch more closely 

 eonnected. 



Note: In tlie literature, from lioth eai-lier smil later times, \ve find accounts of eels 

 vvitli almost ripe ovaries. H. Bathkc, for iustance, in »^liillers Areliiv 1850', p. 20 j 

 seij., mentions an eel wliose lengtli waa 10 inelies G lines, wliose eireuiiiferenee 

 vvas 4 indies (i lines, whose ovaries were very plump anil 1'/.. iiieli broad, but wliose 

 eggs were only at most 0,„|,48 ineh (eonseqnently but a little more tlian O,,""") in 

 diameter. Though Rathke in otlier eels has aeen eggs of double that size, without 

 the ovaries beiiig plumper tliaii iLsual, he looks upon the above mentioned eels as 

 »hoiiitj-iii'htig-, and sa\'s of it; »Olme Zweifel wiirde sich boi dem Thiere, wenn es 

 am lA'ben geblieben ware, die Eier nacli kurzer Zeit von den Eierstoeken abgelost 

 haben«. Well, what is »kurzer Zeit«? And are the eels with the large eggs not 

 slill uearer spawning than tliis? That Ratltkc found one of the lobes of the ovary 

 pressed out through the genital opening <loes not seem to iiie to indii'ate that the 

 lireeding time is near; the size (the smallnessl of the eggs indioates that it is far 

 otf, as far off as in a great number of common eels. Rathke does not inform ub 

 whether the eel was silver or yellow, but its inconsiderable total leiigth, just like 

 that iif the exeeedingly rare silver females of the very smallest size, indicates that 

 it was yellov\ . The eel was l)rouglit to Rafhltc dead, in May (the 24tli). 



I should have been rather doubtful as to tliis eel, it I had not a few years 

 ago, ainong a number of eels which had been speai'ed in spring, found a spei'inien 

 which in niany ways agrees \\\W\ it. It iras n i/ellnw rel, c. 16 indies loiig, v. 3 

 inches in circuniference, with thickly folded and very plump ovaries, whose greatest 

 breadth is c. 1 indi, and whose eggs vary in diameter lietween O,,,,, and O,,,,,""" , 

 an eel, consequently, which in many resjiects reminds ns of Ratlikc's. As this eel 

 is yellow, its lireeding time, of cour.se, is still far off, which is also very dcarly 

 indicated by the small size of the eggs; as the eggs are mudi smaller than in 

 most silver eels, I must look upon flir strrmghj dcveloped folds in its ovaries und tlu 

 accompmiyiiifi grcnt nundx'r of i'ngs, ii,s an ahnornial derdnjmient. Such eels are rare; 

 bcsides the two above mentioned 1 have seen only one more, an eel from the 

 Kcsser Bolt, cauglit in a weel in Dccembi'r 1888 i,cp. 'Fiskeritidende« 1888, No. 51, 

 p. 40()); it was 28 indies long, and the eggs at most O,,,,,-,"'"'. This scarcity, I thiiik, 

 jigrees very well with iiiy supposition that these ct'ls whli thickly fiildc(l ovaries 

 are abnoriinil spccinicMs. 



