THE EELS. 287 



eel (A. acutirostris), which are taken in large numbers on 

 their way to the sea in autumn for breeding purposes. 



There is another form, very broad-snouted, which ap- 

 pear to be barren females, or sterile for a time. They 

 are found in fresh-waters, and seem to be very fierce and 

 voracious; occasionally some of these are found migrating 

 at the annual breeding-time towards the sea. 



Much has been written about the eels' migration. 



Eels descend the streams and rivers to the sea for 

 spawning .purposes. When they arrive at the tidal waters 

 they continue to descend during the ebb, but cease during 

 the flow of the tide. This migration takes place at dif- 

 ferent -periods. In Norfolk it commences in July and ends 

 in November. In the Severn it appears to commence 

 in October and November with the first rise of the waters ; 

 in the Kennet in August, September, and November, some 

 descend as early as April ; in the Yare and Waveny the 

 eels come down in large solid balls from one to two feet in 

 diameter, heads inside and tails out, and these living balls 

 roll down the river and plump into the nets with such force 

 as to carry them away. 



This has also been seen during the migration in Ireland. 

 It is asserted that the large eels never return to the fresh 

 water after spawning. Buckland's opinion is that they do 

 return, but at the same time they are not recognised, inas- 

 much as traps are set only for eels on their downward 

 march. There are no traps to catch them wholesale on 

 their upward march. The down-parents, moreover, go in 

 large numbers ; the up-parent eels, " I fancy, go singly." 



At what age eels begin to breed is a problem ; it is 

 possible they remain unprolific for some years, and when 

 ready migrate to the sea. Most writers on eels have stated 

 that these fish breed only in brackish waters of the 

 estuaries of our rivers, but many good observers declare 

 that some eels do breed in fresh water, in ponds and lakes 

 which have no connection with rivers that run to the sea. 

 But all ponds and lakes have their outfalls, which by 

 some means or other communicate with rivers the waters 

 of which eventually get to the sea. That young eels migrate 



