646 f:ELS IN WATER PIPES AND THEIR MKiRATIOX. — MISHOP. 



several wcuk later tlia.i the previous year. The aiitumii (the 

 migratory season for eels) heinii' unusually <\v\\ they (li(,l not 

 seem to be uioviiig as in tlic jyrevious year. The traj) was there- 

 fore kept in to lind whether they would migTate when .sufficient 

 rain had fallen to rais(^ the lakes and streams. The rain held 

 oif, however, until about the middle of November, and it was 

 then so late there was no noti('eal)le movement of the eels. 



Many water-works men have held that the way eels gc^t into 

 the water pipes is by getting through the screens when very 

 small, and that they live in the pipes until they are about a foot 

 long a'ad then they tind their way into the services. [ cannot 

 credit this, as they would then be giving tronl)le all the year 

 round, and would not get in the pipes ])eriodically as they now 

 do. It has also been pointed out that if an overhanging dam 

 were put across the stream the small eels cimld not reach the 

 lake, and i'n a few years there would Ix- no small eels in the 

 lakes to get in the water pipes. Thi> idea seems quite reason- 

 able, but I do not think it complerc enough to ho entirely suc- 

 cessful. I think the ends of the dam should be arranged so as 

 to prevent eels passing around the end of the dam on the land, 

 and thus reaching the stream above. 



That eels are w(dl able to pass around or over a dam, there 

 can be no doubt. I tried an experiment with one lot taken from 

 the tra]) with the following results: They were put i'.i a box 

 without water, and kept in a room where the temperature was 

 tifty.-six degrees (Farenheit), and ai the end (d' Iwenty-seven 

 hours two were pnt in water and soon became lively, and 

 ap])eared as well as though tluw had never becMi taken from the 

 lake. The others a])])eared to be i.i about the same condition. 

 The largest one lived forty-thrCe hours. ()th(U' ex|)ei'inients 

 tried later in the summer pi-ovc(| ihat eels tifti^en fo (u'ghteen 

 inches long, will live longer than -^mall ones. In one case T hsid 

 one to live out of water for seventy-two hours. 



Judging from these facts, these tisli can leave the water in 

 the night whih" the grass i< wet with dew or rain, and reuunn 



