464 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



Aristotle is the first among the ancients who expressed a definite 

 opinion regarding the origin of the'eel. This great philosopher and in- 

 vestigator, whose knowledge concerning many questions of natural 

 history has been corroborated by the discoveries of modern times, un- 

 fortunately expressed the most singular and primitive views regard- 

 ing the eel question. In his "Natural History of Animals " he says :* 

 "Among the articulates and among the fish there are some which in no 

 respect show any difference of sex. Thus the eel is neither male nor 

 female and is procreated from nothing. Those, however, who maintain 

 that occasionally eels are found which contain worm-like objects speak 

 without reason, because they have not seen where the eels carry these 

 objects; for no other animal produces young without eggs; but no eel 

 has ever been found to contain an egg." And in another place he says :t 

 " Eels are not produced by copulation, nor do they lay eggs. No eel has 

 ever been found to contain semen or eggs ; and when eels have been 

 opened neither seminal nor ovarian ducts have been discovered. Among 

 all the animals having blood the eel is the only one which does not 

 originate from copulation or eggs. It is evident that this is a correct 

 statement, for eels will make their appearance in marshy lakes, even 

 after all the water has been allowed to flow out and the mud has been 

 taken out, as soon as rain-water begins to fill such lakes. In dry weather 

 they will not be produced, not even in lakes which are full of water all 

 the time, for they live on rain-water. It is therefore evident that they 

 originate neither from procreation nor from eggs. Nevertheless some 

 people think that they produce live young ones, because intestinal 

 worms have been found in some eels, which these people think, are the 

 young of the eel. This, however, is an erroneous opinion, for they are 

 produced from the so-called ' bowels of the earth,' £ which are spontane- 

 ously produced from mud and moist soil." 



Considering the high esteem in which Aristotle was held among the 

 ancients, and still more in the Middle Ages, it will not be astonishing 

 that these marvelous statements were believed and embellished by a 

 number of other fables and legends, many of which are current among 

 the common people to this very day. There is in fact no other animal 

 regarding whose origin and life so many erroneous opinions are preva- 

 lent as the eel. These opinions, some of which are entirely fabulous, 

 whilst others are within the range of possibility, but have been proved 

 to be wrong, may be divided into three groups. 



The first comprises those opinions which, based on Aristotle's descrip- 

 tions, supposed the eel to be procreated not directly from the mud of the 

 earth, but from a siimy mass, which is said to be produced when eels, 

 which otherwise show no difference of sex, rub their bodies against each 



*Boo'kIV, chapter 11. 

 tBook VI; chapter 16. 



X Aristotle understands by these ""bowels or intestines of the earth," the earth-worm 

 {Lnmbricus terrestris Et), as appears from his treatise on'the procreation of animals. 



