480 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. [18] 



3 pounds "AnguiUe? those between 3 and 4 pounds "Anguillaci," from 



4 up to 6 pounds " Rocche, v and the largest, weighing 5 J-6 pounds and 

 more " MigUoramenti." During autumn eels are frequently caught near 

 Comaccbio weighing 10 and even 15 pounds. 



As regards the third aim which 1 bad set myself, and which brings us 

 to the most important point of the whole eel question, namely, to catch 

 in the open sea eels which had got there on their migrations, in order to 

 obtain in this way a fully matured milter and spawner, I have, as far as 

 my modest means would allow, done everything which would bring me 

 nearer to the solution of this problem. I have gone to sea in Chioggia 

 fishing vessels, both from Magnavacca and from Codigero; I have 

 accompanied the fishermen on their expeditions to the open sea; I 

 have fished with them, and by offering them rewards I have urged 

 them to catch eels out at sea. I have arrived at the conviction that 

 this problem can only be solved by employing extraordinary means. 

 Sensible old Chioggia fishermen, who know every nook and corner of 

 this part of the Adriatic,* have assured me that during a long life-time 

 they have never yet caught a fully-grown river eel at any distance from 

 the coast. The eels which were handed me in the harbor of Magnavacca, 

 which were said to have been caught in the open sea, and which I 

 found to be common female eels, or eels with lobe-organs, had invari- 

 ably been caught in the immediate neighborhood of the coast, or even 

 in the Palotta Canal. There was no lack of attempts to deceive me ; 

 fishermen would take eels along from the shore, and on their return 

 exhibit them to me as having been caught in the sea. Near the coast 

 eels are frequently found, as I have mentioned above, in the sea, and 

 differ in no respect from the lagoon eels. I found both female eels and 

 eels with lobe-organs with the same immature organs of generation as 

 in Comaccbio; these eels had evidently just entered the sea from the 

 lagoon by way of the Palotta Canal. At some distance, however, 1 to 2 

 nautical miles from the coast, none of the many thousands of grown eels 

 which have migrated to the sea are seen ; every trace of them is abso- 

 lutely lost.t Inexplicable as this phenomenon appears at first sight, 



*The inhabitants of Chioggia are the boldest fishermen and sailors on the whole 

 coast of Italy, and are famous as such under the name " lujpi di mar "—sea- wolves It 

 is a great pleasure, especially when the waves are high, to watch their maneuvers, 

 which they execute shouting and singing. Two Chioggia vessels with reddish-brown 

 sails set out on their expedition. One sails far ahead, and at a suitable place casts 

 the net ; thereupon both vessels rapidly sail towards each other ; it looks as if they 

 must run into each other. When very close to each other a fisherman holding the line 

 of the net in his hand leaps from the first into the second vessel, amid the shouts and 

 laughter of his companions. In a few moments both vessels are again far from each 

 other, and haul in the net. 



tWherever the coast has long and shallow bays, like near Goro, north of the Po di 

 Volano, as also in Schleswig and Denmark, eels are found at a considerable distance 

 from the coast. I have seen eels speared at a great distance from the coast in the Bay 

 Sacca di Goro. The difficulty or impossibility only begins in deep water, and this is 

 the very place from which eels are desired. After my experiences I must contest the 



