and on the Freskwaier Fish of Austria. 209 



prised to find, that in the country so eloquently described by 

 Sir H. Davy, and which I expected to find teeming with fish, 

 that it was scai'ce and dear, though full of the most beautiful 

 lakes and rivers. 



I was first struck with the difference of these filtered and 

 unfiltered waters at Geneva, by bathing successively in the 

 Rhone and in the Arve, and have often experienced it since 

 in alpine travelling, where the difference is very sensible in 

 fording the torrents. In descending the Danube, after the 

 Ivar and some minor torrents have joined it, the Inn rolls in 

 its magnificent stream, of the true alpine character. The vo- 

 lume is so great, that it is the true, or as the Arabs would 

 have termed it, " the great river," and with the assistance of 

 the Traun, Inn, and some minor streams, the Danube arrives 

 at Vienna so completely alpine in its character, that any one 

 unacquainted with the geography, but familiar with the moun- 

 tain-streams, would immediately pronounce it to be an alpine 

 river at no great distance from its sources. 



Lower down the Save and Drave add their waters to this 

 mighty stream, Mhich although probably rather warmer, are 

 exactly of the same character as those of the northern Alps. 



It is this vast volume of alpine water, which is not only un- 

 favourable to, but I really believe uninhabitable by the eel, not 

 from the temperature, but from the want of food and the ra- 

 pidity of its current, which I conceive to be the cause of the 

 fact I have stated, and that the genus is unwilling to encoun- 

 ter the inconvenience of the long passage to the comparatively 

 genial coast of the Black Sea, where the locality would appear 

 to be perfectly suited to their production to any extent. 



The same character of water applies to the Rhine, which is 

 completely alpine until it has received the Moselle and other 

 tributaries of a lower country ; and it will afford a curious sub- 

 ject for investigation, whether the eels of the Alayn migrate or 

 remain in the upper country during the winter. The Elbe is 

 quite different, not receiving a true alpine stream during its 

 whole course ; and it is equally desirable to ascertain whether 

 the tribe remain stationary in Bohemia, or visit the shores of 

 the North Sea like their congeners on the other side o£ it. 



On the Freshwater Fish of Austria. 



Allusion has been made to the care which has been taken 

 to investigate the ichthyology of the Danube, and which I have 

 great satisfaction in announcing has been extended to every 

 part of the Austrian dominions. Some idea may be formed 

 of the variety of this family, when it is mentioned, that in the 

 Danube no less than seven species of Sturgeon have been 



Ann. &) May. N. Hist. Vol. viii. P 



