272 On the Generatto7i and other obscure Facts 



and carouches, and ihese are called hemelhigs ; but this 

 sort is not fit for breed, and when caught are generally 

 amongst the class of white tish. 



It 13 remarkable that eels resort up streams and rivers 

 in vast numbers in the hottest time of the year, viz. 

 in June and July, and that they then discharge small 

 worms, which it is believed turn into eels. For as soon as 

 the water grows cooler they swim down with the stream, 

 and are caught in abundance near water-mills, notwith- 

 standing there remain alwavs enough in the higher parts 

 of the river and rivulets, and I liave found various species 

 among them. We have likewise a small kind of tortoise 

 here in our rivers: these lay small white oblong eggs, smaller 

 than pigeons' eggs; they lay them always in sand, where 

 they can have the strongest noon-sun, which hatches 

 them. J.K.D.D.—Celle. 



[To be continued.] 



XXXVIII. On' the Gevei-ation and other obscure Facts in 

 the Natural History of the Cu)nmon Eel. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Sir, XN vour 133d Number for May last, page 410, it is 

 stated as a curious fact in the natural history of the com- 

 mon eel, that a number, consisting of old and young, had 

 been discovered in a subterranean pool at the bottom of an 

 old quarry, which had been filled up and its surface ploughed 

 and cropped more than twelve years. The information was 

 evidently intended to convey an opinion that the yoimg 

 eels, found in the pool, had actually been bred therein ; and 

 could thatcircnmstance have been unequivocally established, 

 it would have been a new and interestmg fact in the natural 

 history of the animal. I however imagine, that a strict 

 invesiication of all the citciuTistances of the case, made on 

 the spot, would have shown that the young eels had re- 

 cently found their way into the pool, in the same n)anner 

 as the old ones had formerly done; that is, by some a- 

 queous communication, however temporary or trivial, with 

 any the most insignificant adjoining brook or rill. It is 

 certainly difficult to conceive how even a subterranean pool 

 can preserve its water for more than a dozen years, per- 

 fectly isolated from all other water; and if any communi- 

 'cation, however temporarv, and however minute, had ex- 

 isted, the circumstance of finding the old and young eels~ 

 tooether would be onlv an ordinary occurrence. Indeed I 



. ' find 



