THE EEL. 145 



a rare fish, it would be enumerated as among the 

 greatest curiosities of natural history. 



Throughout the country, eels inhabit ditches, ponds, 

 lakes, and pieces of water generally. Some eels are 

 of very large size, and many instances of this are 

 quoted in Land and Water, as well as in other 

 periodicals and works on ichthyology. Six or eight 

 pounds in weight is common. Mr. Buckland mentions 

 an enormous eel which weighed 36 Ib. It was caught 

 in the Ouse, near Denver sluice. The back was black, 

 the sides golden, and the belly silvery. The elvers 

 or young eels are almost transparent, the heads are 

 small, and the backbone can then be seen : this is the 

 appearance of them when about a week old. They 

 are caught when ascending the river Parrett, in 

 Somersetshire, by the hundred thousand, perhaps 

 million, and made into cakes to be cut in slices and 

 fried, when they are said to be very good so says 

 Mr. Yarrell. Quantities of elvers are said also to be 

 caught in the Severn, and similarly disposed of. Eels 

 produce their young alive. The eel-fisheries in Ire- 

 land are very productive, and in the case of salmon 

 culture, facilities for passing up and down the rivers 

 have been contrived for the young eels. One method 

 is that of placing ropes of straw in their way, up 

 which they climb, over the objects which otherwise 

 would be to them insurmountable. 



The Broad-nosed Eel (A. latirostris) is also a 

 common kind. It is called by the fishermen of the 

 Severn the " Frog-mouthed Eel." It has a wider 

 mouth than the common Eel, the nose is broader 

 and the skin thicker, and it does not grow to such a 

 L 



