THE EEL. 143 



to the spawning season, the burhot frequently seeks the 

 shallows. When, therefore, the water becomes slightly frozen 

 over, the fisherman, armed only with an axe, proceeds slowly 

 and cautiously along the newly-formed covering ; and as soon 

 as he observes the fish lying beneath, he strikes the thin ice 

 immediately above its head a heavy blow with the back part 

 of the axe, which has the effect of stupifying it for a time, 

 when he draws it out through an aperture cut in the ice. 



The Eel (Al, Sw ) is common both in the Gotha and 

 the Wenern. Singularly enough, however, this fish was 

 unknown in my neighbourhood until about fifty years 

 ago, owing, as supposed, to the Falls of Trollhattan im- 

 peding their progress from the sea. But when sluices 

 were formed at that place, and a traversable communi- 

 cation opened, the eels immediately appeared in the waters 

 above. An old and experienced fisherman, residing on 

 the banks of the Wenern, assured me, indeed, that it was 

 during his own childhood that the advent of the fish first 

 took place. With the exception of the far north, the 

 eel is common, I believe, throughout the Scandinavian 

 peninsula. 



Swedish and Danish naturalists seem not quite agreed 

 as to the number of species of this fish that exist in 

 Scandinavia. Nilsson speaks of two fresh-water eels, and 

 Kroyer of an equal number or more, but as yet he has 

 not concluded the subject. In my neighbourhood there 

 were certainly two species ; the one was called by the 

 fishermen the Elf-Al, or river-eel, which had a broad 

 nose and prominent teeth, and answered probably to the 



c 



Anguilla latirostriSj Yarr. ; and the Nabb-Al, or sharp-nosed 

 eel, whose teeth were less prominent, which was most likely 



