574 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. 



of sex, and Nilsson, in his description of the common eel (to 

 which he gives the synonyme of Murcena anguilla, L.), gives 

 us three varieties or forms 1. The common eel (Anguilla 

 acutirostris, Yarr.) ; 2. The snig (A. mediorostris, Yarr.) ; 

 3. The broad-nosed eel (A. latirostris, Yarr.) -, all which 

 forms we have in Scandinavia. Kroyer, on the contrary, in 

 his " Danish Fishes/' gives three distinct species Anguilla 

 migratoria, Kroy. ; A. acutirostris, Yarr. ; A. latirostris, Yarr. 

 Malmgren says there is decidedly only one species. 



The following extract from a letter of Mr. Pinkerton 

 (" Field/' October 25th, 1862) is, I think, worth inserting 

 here. He says : 



' ' There is no doubt that there are three distinct species 

 of eels (at least) in the British and continental waters, all 

 different in their habits and forms. The snig is more in- 

 clined to a yellow colour than the other two species, and is 

 distinguished by its habit of roving and feeding by day, the 

 others by night ; and as the nose of the snig is not so broad 

 as in the broad-nosed, nor so sharp as in the sharp-nosed 

 eel, it has properly been called the mediorostris. Moreover, 

 the first five cervical vertebras are smooth and round, being 

 entirely destitute of the superior and lateral spinal processes 

 possessed by the two other species. 



' ' Old women, when they go to market, prefer buying the 

 delicately-flavoured long-nosed eel, rather than the rank, 

 coarse, flat-nosed species, and the fishermen always obtain 

 more for the former. 



" The broad-nosed eel bites with a more violent, vicious 

 tug than the other; and being one of the most filthy of 

 feeders, emits a rank, strong smell when being cooked. 

 The sharp-nosed eel is a much cleaner feeder. In the Lake 

 of Geneva, where the sharp-nosed eel abounds, the blunt- 

 nosed has never been taken. 



" But the great distinction between the two is this the 

 sharp-nosed eel is a migratory fish, while the blunt-nosed is 

 not. I admit that the latter has its summer and winter 

 quarters, and it wanders about a good deal at night in search 

 of prey ; but it does not migrate to the sea in large shoals, 



