21 



Sudl ,-1 lliiui; lias iicil ycl lircu pninlcd uut witliiii tlir fnniily ol' llie 

 Miirankltf, exccpt witli re.spect to tlie CoiKjer iiihiaria by Ciinninf/hain (.1. Mar. 

 Biul. Ass. vol. II, ISDl — 92, p. 16) wlio .fhowcd tliat tlie eyes of tlic male ))y 

 comraoncdno; maturity grow very large; otlier extenial cliavactcrs do not seem 

 to have beeii observed in tlie Vmiger wliicii inigiit iiidicate tlieir getting a 

 pefuliar breeding-dress , aud such a one caiinot be ^aid therefore to have 

 been observeil. 



The peciiliarities wJiieh have been observed in the CotKjer by the coni- 

 niencing ri{)eness of its eggs and sperm, niake it probable tliat both males and 

 t'emales die soon after the tirst spawning-season; tliis seems to be indicated 

 especially by the peculiai'ly .soft coudition ol' the liones in the crania ol' the 

 mature tish. Also the considerable size ol' the eyes of the mature males indi- 

 cate the same; for \ve do not see large eyes in innnature males, and it is nn- 

 likely that they ean have dwindled in after the propagation. 



Cii>uiiii(/li<i)n savs of the mature female Conf/er that »all the rygs arc of 



(dioiit tlie same sizet. viz. about 1 — U.,,^ ; must not this also iudicate that 



eaeh sjjeeimen has in its life but one spawning-season? 



I have formerly, without further elneidation of tiie matter, spoken of the 

 breeding-dress of the eel, as tliough it (piite corresponded to what \ve call 

 breeding-dress when wc speak for instance of salmon, trout, and other tislies: 

 l)ut, indeed, it does not do so at all. For the salmon gets 1) a mw hreediwj- 

 (Iresif hefore each spunnimj-season, and 2) it does not (jet it till its eggs und sperm 

 ure neuiiy ripe. But now thei'e is every reason to believe that the eel anlg 

 inue in its life gets the said dress, and it gets it at any rate loiiy Jiefore eggs 

 and sperm are ripe. If, therefore, we will compare tlie transition of the eel 

 from yellow to sil ver witli anything in tlie salmon, the nearcst thiug to think 

 of is the ti'ansition of the salmon from »Parr« to Smolt.< and »Grilse« (trom 

 a young fisli to a growu-up one); for this cbauge occurs but once in the life 

 of tlie tisli, at the same time as the migration instinct awakes, and it is ac- 

 companied by a siniilar transformation, foi' instance of the skin and its colours, 

 as in the eel. Tliis »dress«, or whatever we now may call it, is never lost in such 

 a way that the skin of the tish again becomes as it was when it was a Parr«, 

 but during the spawning-seasons it may be further developed iuto a breeding- 

 dress of rather a perishable conditiou; for this breeding-dress disappears after 

 every spawning-season. I mean therefore that tlie transition of the eel from 

 yellow to Silver eel must be compared to the transition of the salmon from a young 

 tish lo u grown-up (ai'terwards ripe) one. and not lo the changes in the colours of 

 the salmon and otlier transformations of il during the spawning-season. When, 

 nevertheless, I call the dress of the silver eel its breeding-dress, it is because 



