THE COMPLETE ANGLER 185 



uncharitable Italian bids us " give eels and no wine to our 

 enemies." 



And I will beg a little more of your attention to tell you, 

 Aldrovandus, and divers physicians, commend the eel very 

 much for medicine, though not for meat. But let me tell 

 you one observation, that the eel is never out of season ; 

 as trouts, and most other fish are at set times : at least 

 most eels are not.* 



* The haunts of the eel are, weeds, under roots, stumps of trees, 

 holes, and clefts of the earth, both in the banks and at the bottom, 

 and in the plain mud, where they lie with only their heads out, 

 watching for prey. They are also found under great stones, old 

 timber, about flood-gates, weirs, bridges, and old mills. They 

 delight in still waters, and in those that are foul and muddy ; though 

 the smaller eels are to be met with in all sorts of rivers and soils. 

 Although the manner in which eels, and indeed all fish, are generated, 

 is sufficiently settled, as appears by the foregoing notes ; there yet 

 remains a question undecided by naturalists ; and that is, Whether 

 the eel be an oviparous or a viviparous fish ? Walton inclines to the 

 latter opinion. The following relation from Bowlker may go near 

 to determine the question : " Being acquainted with an elderly 

 woman, who had been wife to a miller near fifty years, and much 

 employed in dressing of eels, I asked her if she had ever found any 

 spawn or eggs in those eels she opened ? She said she had never 

 observed any ; but that she had sometimes found living eels in 

 them, about the bigness of a small needle ; and particularly, that she 

 once took out ten or twelve, and put them upon the table, and found 

 them to be alive ; which was confirmed to me by the rest of the 

 family. The time of the year when this happened was, as they 

 informed me, about a fortnight or three weeks after Michaelmas ; 

 which makes me of opinion that they go down to the sea, or salt- 

 water, to prepare themselves for the work of propagating and pro- 

 ducing their young. To this I must add another observation of the 

 same nature, that was made by a gentleman of fortune not far from 

 Ludlow, and in the commission of the peace for the county of 

 Salop ; who going to visit a gentleman, his friend was shown a very 

 fine large eel that was going to be dressed, about whose sides and 

 belly he observed a parcel of little creeping things, which at first 

 made him suspect it had been kept too long ; but upon nearer 

 inspection, they were found to be perfect little eels, or elvers. Upon 

 this it was immediately opened in the sight of several other gentle- 

 men, and, in the belly of it, they found a lump about as big as a 

 nutmeg, consisting of an infinite number of those little creatures 

 closely wrapped up together ; which, being put into a basin of 

 water, soon separated, and swam about the basin. This he has 

 often told to several gentlemen of credit in his neighbourhood, from 

 some of whom I first received this account : but I have lately had 

 the satisfaction of having it from his own mouth, and therefore 

 I think this may serve to put the matter out of all doubt, and may 



