490 



Fishes. 



THE EEL. (Anguilla vulgaris.) 



THE EEL resembles a serpent in its form, though no two 

 animals can be more different in every other respect. 

 Eels are fresh-water fish ; but as they are very suscep- 

 tible of cold, those which inhabit rivers go down every 

 autumn towards the sea, which is always warmer than a 

 river, and return in spring. They are said also to spawn 

 in the sea, and great numbers of young Eels are seen in 

 spring ascending tidal rivers. Mr. Edward Jesse, in 

 his edition of " Walton's Angler," says : " A column of 

 them has been traced in the Thames from Somerset 

 House to Oxford, about the middle of May, and I have 

 watched their progress with much interest. No impedi- 

 ment stops them. They keep as much as possible close 

 alongshore, and as they pass watercourses, open ditches, 

 and brooks, &c., some of them leave the column and 

 enter these places, along which they eventually make 

 their way to ponds, smaller rivers, &c. So strong is the 

 migratory instinct in these little eels, that when I have 

 taken some in a bucket and returned them to the river 

 at some distance from the column, they have imme- 

 diately rejoined it without any deviation to the right or 



