EELS 63 



way against the current in the streams all over 

 the country, wriggling through grass and weeds 

 and even climbing damp walls under the instinct 

 which drives them. Every river and lake through- 

 out the country, and even the smallest isolated 

 pond has its eels, and the question has always been : 

 Where do they come from and whither do they go ? 

 All kinds of stories are current amongst country 

 people as to the origin of eels from other forms of 

 life, or by spontaneous generation. The great 

 mystery, however, twenty-five years ago in scientific 

 circles was : How do eels produce their young, and 

 where do they spawn ? Eels, it was well known, 

 remained years in the same waters ; they attained 

 a large size ; they had even been kept under observa- 

 tion for twenty years or more. But no one had 

 ever seen an eel containing spawn or producing 

 young. 



It appears now that all the large eels return to 

 the sea to spawn after they spend some years in 

 fresh water. This, however, is not the most remark- 

 able fact of the case. In noteworthy researches 

 made by Grassi and others in the Mediterranean, 

 it was discovered that the spawning of our common 

 eel takes place at considerable depths in the sea, 

 probably never less than two hundred fathoms. The 

 eggs of the trout and salmon will only hatch out 

 in the shallowest water. But pressure at this great 

 depth appears to be necessary to the vital functions 

 in the production of the young eels. It is commonly 

 known in this country that the big eels go down the 

 rivers in the autumn. Those that are caught on 

 the journey are usually observed to be undergoing 

 a curious change. Their eyes have become larger 



