146 PROPAGATION OF THE EEL. 



young eel did not come into the world alive ; and it has been 

 only very recently admitted, I believe, that the eel breeds in 

 the same manner as other true bony fishes. 



Ekstrom has some pertinent remarks on the propagation 

 of the eel, the result, he tells us, of attentive and long- 

 continued observation; but it is probable that when he 

 wrote, he had not seen all that has been published on the 

 subject by the naturalists and - comparative anatomists of 

 continental Europe. 



"About the middle of June," he says, "when the days 

 are calm and warm, the eel congregates in shallows with 

 clayey or soft sandy bottoms, abounding with the common 

 reed (Arundo Phragmites, Linn.) Afterwards it ascends 

 somewhat from the bottom to about mid-water, where it 

 entwines itself in a spiral form around a reed, and moving 

 its body in a peculiar manner, causes the reed to swing to 

 and fro like a pendulum. The opening of the vent in eels 

 captured at this time is much swollen, and a dark yellow 

 fluid, resembling oil, issues therefrom. If the fish be cut 

 open, the sexual organ is found partly filled with this fluid. 

 That this is a real spermatic fluid I infer, as well from its 

 never being found in eels captured during the winter or 

 spring ; as from the fact that it is first observable on the 

 approach of the spawning season, as a thin whitish fluid, but 

 obtains consistency, and the oil-like appearance spoken of, 

 when the lek actually takes place characteristics which 

 disappear altogether when this is over. I have never found 

 roe in the body of the eel, but I nevertheless believe that it 

 is through the deposit of eggs that the fish propagates its 

 species ; for when spermatic fluid is evidently found, one 

 may with full certainty conclude that, although the females 



