chap, xm.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 187 



THE FOURTH DAY. 



chap. xm. Observations of the Eel, and other Fish 

 that want scales, and how to Fish for them. 



PlSCATOR. 



It is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most 

 dainty fish : the Romans have esteemed her the 

 Helena of their feasts, and some the Queen of palate- 

 pleasure. But most men differ about their breed- 

 ing : some say they breed by generation as other 

 fish do ; and others, that they breed, as some worms 

 do, of mud ; as rats and mice, and many other living 

 creatures, are bred in Egypt, by the sun's heat when 

 it shines upon the overflowing of the river Nilus ; 

 or out of the putrefaction of the earth, and divers 

 other ways. Those that deny them to breed by 

 generation as other fish do, ask, If any man ever 

 saw an Eel to have a spawn or melt ? And they are 

 answered, That they may be as certain of their 

 breeding as if they had seen them spawn : for they 

 say, that they are certain that Eels have all parts 

 fit for generation, like other fish, but so small as 

 not to be easily discerned, by reason of their fat- 

 ness, but that discerned they may be, and that the 

 he and the she Eel may be distinguished by their 

 fins. And liondeletius says, he has seen Eels cling 

 together like dew-worms. 



And others say, that Eels growing old, breed 



