voracious, devour every thing \vithiil 

 their power, fuch as fmall gudgeons, 

 loaches, minnows, miller's-thumbs, worms, 

 &c, &c. and about the latter end of 

 September retire to hollow banks, roots 

 of trees, mud, weeds, or any other 

 place that will afford them protection 

 in this torpid Hate, as they are not 

 known to take any bait until March. 



There is an opinion exifting that all 

 eels go to the fea every Michaelmas, and 

 return again in the fpring, but that I am 

 convinced is a miftaken one. Natural- 

 ifts have not yet decided when, or how 

 they fpawn: fome of them inform us 

 they are viviparous, and others that they 

 are oviparous; Ariftotle's opinion was, 

 there is no difference of fox in eels> but 

 that they are u promiicuoufly generated 

 <{ in mud banks from {lime," &c. and 

 many other talcs equally curious are 

 told, but the doctrine of equivocal ge- 

 neration being now fo univcrfally ex- 

 ploded, there is no doubt, that all ani- 

 mals arc produced by the copulation of 



parents 



