i20 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
gether exceptional to meet with examples of 3 feet. They usually 
average, however, about 2 or 2% feet. Of all fishes this is one 
of the most despised by the angler on account of its habit of 
twisting the line into a mass of tangles and knots in its contor- 
tions when drawn from the water. In the Delaware I have 
seen thousands of small eels during July and August wriggling 
along the mud and flats as the tide ebbed out. They were about 
3 inches in length. Some examples differ much in color, as I 
have frequently taken individuals of a bright brassy color on 
the lower surface of the body. The eel is a foul feeder. I 
have seen an old carcass of a horse which was entirely sub- 
merged at high tide furnishing a most welcome repast to hun- 
dreds of these animals. When the tide receded they would 
still crowd in the shallow water and the rippling formed by 
their continued movements, together with their biting at the 
decomposed flesh, formed a loud noise. The carcass laid there 
for several days before the greater part of it was devoured and 
I never saw one about it during the day. I have also seen them 
about the mouths of sewers. At Cape May it is the object of 
considerable commercial enterprise. Not less than 18 to 20 tons 
were shipped alive to New York and Boston during the year 
1903. They are captured by most clammers as soon as the ice 
drives them into the mud. They generally burrow 6 or 8 inches 
down, sometimes a little further, and after they become more 
or less quiet or dormant are speared. ‘The burrows are small 
holes which seem to be in certain localities having bottoms of a 
nature these animals prefer. I have not ascertained whether they 
lie coiled or stretched out. They appear to remain concealed 
according to temperature and never burrow in warm weather. 
Those intended for market use are taken in pots about 2 feet 
long and 10 inches in diameter. One end of the pot is furnished 
with a funnel opposite to the end of which is a hinged cap to 
enable one to remove the contents. The bait used is chopped 
king crabs placed at the far end of the funnel. The crabs are 
caught in May and June and kept in live pens in the water or 
until the ice kills them. The pots are placed on bottoms, where 
they can always hold their contents alive, some being buoyed, 
