436 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



The important question for the naturalist is, Why did the 

 bullfrog help the bullhead? Does the celestial quality of 

 charity influence the lower strata of vertebrates ? 



SECTION SECOND. 



THE COMMON EEL. 



This apode is too common in both the salt-water estuaries, 

 and in the fresh waters throughout America, to require a mi- 

 nute description. Though many fishes come into fresh wa- 

 ters to spawn, the eel spawns in salt water when it can get 

 to it, going down stream in autumn, and returning in spring. 

 It is a bottom fish, and winters in the mud at the bottom of 

 eddies or shallow still waters in streams, where the fisher poles 

 his boat along with the handle of an eel-spear, and jabs right 



THE COMMON EEL. 



and left in the mud, frequently impaling the writhing fish. 

 The silver eel at the mouths of the trout-brooks on Long Isl- 

 and is a great luxury when either fried hard or made into a 

 stew. It is regarded as so great a dish at Vandewater's, at 

 South Oyster Bay, as to be preferred to a trout in the trouting 

 season. In skinning the eel and drawing it, cut deeply each 

 side of the backbone, and from the vent, several inches down- 

 ward, cut off all the part which appears to be a receptacle of 



