THE LARVA OF THE EEL, 281 
the question whether the Leptocephali were normal or abnormal 
larvee could only be decided by investigation of living specimens, 
Dr. Giinther abandons the practice of distinguishing different species 
among them, and merely groups together the known forms which 
appear to have a common origin, or which by their general similarity 
appear to be closely connected together. Thus he groups together 
L. Morrisit, diaphanus, Bibront, Gegenbawri, Kollikert, and punctatus. 
We shall see that in recognising punctatus as the more developed 
stage of Morrisii, Giinther is proved by the researches of Grassi and 
Calandruccio to have been right, while many of the other forms 
grouped with Morrisw by Giinther turn out to be the larve of adult 
forms closely allied to the conger. 
It is a curious fact that Leptocephali which are rarely observed 
or captured in other places are not uncommon at Messina. Com- 
menting on this fact in 1883, Bellotti, an Italian naturalist, main- 
tained that it gave support to the view that these creatures were 
not normal larvee, but abnormal overgrown individuals whose proper 
development had been arrested by exceptional conditions. This 
investigator had only been able to capture a few rare specimens at 
Genoa, Nice, and Naples, and none at all at Palermo, Catania, or 
Siracusa, which are near Messina. He surmised that the impetuous 
currents and the numerous whirlpools of the narrow Straits of 
Messina were the exceptional conditions which caused the larve of 
congers, &c., to pass through an abnormal course of development. 
Until the normal development was known, arguments of this kind, 
as [I have remarked in my previous paper, were of little im- 
portance. ; 
Signore Grassi is an Italian naturalist who lives at Catania. He 
is one of those who devote themselves chiefly to the application of 
rigid scientific method to investigation in the department which 
used to be called natural history, and which it has been proposed 
to distinguish by the term bionomics. He has made himself famous 
recently by his marvellous discoveries concerning the life histories 
of the termites or white ants. In 1892 he published a brief 
account of some researches which he and Dr. Calandruccio had 
made on the Leptocephali. For five years they had noticed that these 
forms were common enough at Catania, being captured at all times 
of the year and sometimes in abundance. They were most plentiful 
in the harbour, and were caught by the nets called tartarene and 
sciabica, nets which are dragged over a sandy or muddy bottom. 
In these authors’ opinion this abundance of Leptocephali at Catania 
is peculiar to the period mentioned, and to be attributed to the 
volcanic eruptions which have sent much lava into the sea, and so 
compelled certain Murzenidze to leave their usual haunts among the 
