EDWIN AND ANGELINA 



28O9 



EEL 



and his rule was notable for its jus- 

 tice and peace. On Oct. 12, 633, Ed- 

 win was defeated and slain at Hat- 

 field, Yorkshire, in a battle against 

 a coalition of heathens under Penda 

 of Mercia and Cadwallon of North 

 Wales. Edinburgh, which he forti- 

 fied, is named after him, and he 

 was long venerated as a saint. 



Edwin and Angelina. Simple 

 ballad, sometimes called The 

 Hermit, by Oliver Goldsmith. It 

 was privately printed for the coun- 

 tess of Northumberland in 1765 

 and first published in The Vicar of 

 Wakefield (1706), where it is intro- 

 duced by way of contrast with 

 the false taste and meretricious 

 exuberance of language in the 

 poetiy of the time. It tells of 

 the coming together of separated 

 lovers ; Angelina, disguised as a 

 youth, seeks guidance from a her- 

 mit, only to find that he is her 

 lost Edwin. From this sentimental 

 ballad the names have come to be 

 applied, rather derisively, to any 

 loving young couple. 



Eeckhout, GERBRAND VAN DEN 

 (1621-74). Dutch painter. Born at 

 Amsterdam, Aug. 19, 1621, he was 

 the favourite pupil and later the 

 friend of Rembrandt. He painted 

 genre, portraits, and scriptural sub- 

 jects, but his cabinet pictures are 

 superior to those executed on a 

 larger scale. Among his best works 

 are The Raising of Jairus's 

 Daughter (Berlin), Tobit and the 

 Angel (Brunswick), The Presenta- 

 tion of Jesus in the Temple 

 (Dresden ), Soldiers Gambling, Jesus 

 Among the Doctors (Munich), 

 Merrymaking in the Guard -house, 

 and the portraits of Oliver Dapper, 

 the geographer, and Rembrandt. 

 He also executed a number of 

 etchings. Eeckhout died at Am- 

 sterdam, Sept. 29, 1674. 



Eecloo. Town of Belgium, in 

 the prov. of E. Flanders. It stands 

 on the Lieve, 11^ m. N.W. of 

 Ghent. A rly. junction, it is con- 

 nected also with neighbouring 

 towns by tramways. It carries on 

 a large trade in grain, and its manu- 

 factures include lace, woollen, and 

 linen goods. Pop. 13,536. 



Eel (Anguillae). Group of fishes 

 with elongated snake-like bodies 

 and no visible scales. They are 

 found in both sea and fresh waters 

 in most parts of the tropical and 

 temperate regions of the world. 

 The common European eel (A. 

 vulgar is) is a familiar example of 

 the class. 



The life history of the eel, long a 

 complete mystery, was worked out 

 by the Italian zoologist, Battista 

 Grassi (b. 1855). It is now known 

 that the broad-nosed and sharp- 

 nosed eels are not two varieties, 

 but that the former is the male and 



the latter the fe- 

 male. The male 

 is rarely found 

 except at the 

 mouths of rivers 

 and in brackish 

 water, but the 

 female is common 

 in most rivers and 

 ponds. In au- 

 tumn the mature 

 eels migrate down 

 the rivers to the 

 sea, and those in 

 ponds will often 

 go overland for 

 considerable dis- 

 tances at night to 

 reach the rivers. 



Eels spawn in 

 the sea during 

 winter, apparent- 

 ly in deep water 

 some hundreds of 

 miles from land. 

 The eggs hatch 

 out as little fish 

 known as Lepto- 

 cephali or glass 

 fishes, so entirely 

 unlike their par- 

 ents that they 

 were formerly 

 thought to be a 

 distinct species. 

 They are flat, rib- 

 bon -like creatures 

 about 3 ins. long, 



curiously deep in body, scaleless 

 and transparent, with small heads. 



These Leptocephali do not ap- 

 pear to feed in the sea, and they 

 gradually shrink both in length 

 and depth, and become round in 

 body, when they are known as 

 glass eels. In this state they make 

 their way up the rivers in such 

 countless millions that the water 

 is often black with them. In 

 ponds eels often live for several 

 years before descending to the sea 

 to spawn, where it is supposed they 

 die after depositing their eggs. 



Eels are largely used as food by 

 most European nations, and the 

 British supply comes largely from 

 Holland and Denmark. In Feb.. 

 1919, the Fresh Water Fish Com- 

 mittee urged that steps should be 

 taken for the cultivation of eels in 



1*3 



The electric eel, a large 

 South American fish which can 

 impart a powerful electric shock 



Eel. Stages in the metamorphosis oi the common eel 

 from the full-grown larval eel (Leptocephalus), which is 

 3 ins. long, thin, and transparent. In each successive 

 stage the eel gets rounder, until it finally assumes the 

 serpent form. The metamorphosis takes a year to com- 

 plete, and during this time the eel does not feed 



Great Britain on a large scale. 

 Before the Great War the Germans 

 had established a large elver- 

 catching depot on the Severn, 

 whence many millions were ex- 

 ported to Germany for cultivation 

 there between 1908 and 1911. The 

 committee recommended that an 

 experimental eel -cultivating estab- 

 lishment should be inaugurated 

 under government auspices, and 

 that use be made of the German 

 depot, which the ministry of 

 agriculture and fisheries was en- 

 deavouring to acquire in 1920. 

 See illus. p 2205 



Eel, ELECTRIC (Gymnotus elec- 

 tricus). Large eel-like fish found in 

 the rivers of Brazil and Guiana. 

 Though resembling an eel in 

 general appearance, it is widely 

 removed from it in internal struc- 

 ture. It attains a length of 6 ft., 

 and is notable for the powerful 

 electric shock that it can give. The 

 electricity is generated by four 

 organs lying in pairs under the 

 skin, but their precise mode of 

 action is not fully understood. The 

 animal uses this power for killing 

 or stunning the fish on which it 

 feeds, as well as in self-defence. 

 The force of the shock varies 

 greatly, but is sometimes suffi- 

 ciently strong to overpower a horse. 

 See Electric Fish 



