[3] THE MIGRATIONS OF EELS. 1125 



many places the fishermen will not set their fishing- apparatus in moon- 

 light nights. The eels seem principally to stir about during the night, 

 for during the day they are but rarely caught. The moon and the cur- 

 rents also have considerable influence on the fisheries ; but the imper- 

 fect data which we possess do not justify us in drawing any definite 

 conclusions. 



Although statistics on this subject were not collected till the year 

 1879, it appears from these incomplete data that the Swedish eel-fish- 

 eries are of great economical importance. In East Gothland there were 

 in use in 1880, 312 '^ hommor," with which 24,097 kilograms (about 

 53,000 pounds) of eels were caught, representing a value of 17,010 

 crowns ($4,558.68). In the Kalmar district the number of " hommor" 

 was 1,144, yielding 40,000 kilograms (about 88,000 pounds) of eels, val- 

 ued at 27,900 crowns ($7,447.20). 



In the district of Christianstadt the value of the eels caught in 1879 

 was 138,629 crowns ($37,152.57), and in Schonen 151,239 crowns 

 ($40,532.05). Most of the eels caught in the northern districts of Swe- 

 den are sent to Stockholm and Norrkopiug, while those caught in the 

 Blekinge and Ostschonen are bought by German dealers and are sent to 

 Berlin via Stettin. 



Mr. Dallmer, in his letter referred to above, calls attention to the 

 fact that we lack data from the coasts of Mecklenburg and Pomerania, 

 but that the observations made by Dr. Lundberg, Dr. Benecke, and by 

 himself prove to a certainty that the Sound and the Belt — therefore 

 Salter waters than the Baltic — are the ])oiuts towards which the eels 

 direct their autumnal migration from the Baltic. He does not doubt, 

 either, that this migration is in some way connected with the process 

 of propagation, and points to the fact that Dr. Benecke (in his work, 

 ^^Fische, Fischerei, und Fischzuclit in Ost- und 17e6-/^reMsse?j,"'p. 181) has 

 determined the development of the eggs by measurements taken dur- 

 ing the months of September, October, and November. 



Dallmer concludes his remarks by pointing out the i)ractical impor- 

 tance of the observations as far as they go. "The observations on this 

 subject which have been made so far are in my opinion not only of 

 scientific interest, but are probably of considerable importance to the 

 fishing-industries, for I have no doubt that there are many and exten- 

 sive portions of our German coast on the Baltic along which eels mi- 

 grate without its being generally known, or without fislieries employ- 

 ing eel-baskets. It was at my suggestion that the minister of the in- 

 terior granted a sum of money for obtaining eel-baskets for the purpose 

 of making experiments with the same. These experiments unfortu- 

 nately commenced a little too late last autumn, but it is expected that 

 during the present year they will fully corroborate the facts given above 

 relative to the migrations of the eels. Although we are not able to 

 chronicle during the present autumn (1883) very large numbers of eels 



