Proceedings. 55 
in the integument, and other peculiar characteristics. In habit 
Fels are very carnivorous. 
It is curious to note that prior to Grassi’s work no one had 
ever seen an Hel less than 2} inches in length. It was many 
years too before any trace of sex could be discovered. Now it 
seems satisfactorily proved that the broad-nosed variety of 
Eels are females, and the sharp-nosed males. Some eggs 
thought to be Eel’s eggs had been found by an Italian natura- 
list, but no definite proof existed that they were Eel’s. 
For many years a great deal of interest had centred in the 
annual migrations of Hels. The adults going down to the sea 
in the autumn, the young, or elvers, coming up from the sea in 
the spring. 
For some years a peculiar little fish called Leptocephalus had 
been known. It resembled a transparent ribbon of jelly, and 
was thought to be an Eel which had become modified by being 
" carried out to sea. 
The essential fact in Grassi’s discovery lay in his proof that 
Leptocephalus was the larva of the Eel, a normal stage in its 
life-history. 
Following out this clue, Grassi found that Eels matured 
sexually and bred at great depths in the sea, and hence 
explained their migrations. Those Eels which come up from 
the depths were found to have developed a bridal habit of 
silver and grey colour. 
The evidence for the connection between Leptocephalus and 
the Eel was based on experimental as well as anatomical 
evidence. The change from Leptocephalus to the young Eel is 
accompanied by a diminution in size, and by the time the Eels 
reach the mouths of rivers, they have assumed all the characters 
of the ordinary Eel. 
— ——_ 
Meeting, held at Reigate, 21st of January, 1898. 
Dr. Bossey exhibited a Fungus" growing on the back of a 
_ chrysanthemum-leaf from France. 
