CULTURE OF EELS 223 



tion, and baing also very prolific and of tolerably rapid 

 growth, it can be speedily turned into a source of great 

 profit. About the end of the sixteenth century we know 

 that the annual income derived from eel-breeding in the 

 lagoons was close upon 12,000 a Tery large sum of 

 money at that period. No recent statistics have been 

 made public as to the money derived from the eels of Co- 

 macchio, but I have reason to know that the Sum has not 

 in any sense diminished during late years. 



"The inhabitants of Comacchio seem to have a very 

 correct idea of the natural history of this rather mysterious 

 fish. They know exactly the time when the animal breeds, 

 which, as well as the question how it breeds, has in Britain 

 been long a source of controversy, as I have already shown ; 

 and these shrewd people know very well when the fry may 

 be expected to leave the sea and perform their montee. 

 They can measure the numbers, or rather estimate the 

 quantity, of young fish as they ascend into the lagoon, and 

 consequently are in a position to know what the produce 

 will eventually be, as also the amount of food necessary to 

 be provided, for the fish-farmers of Comacchio do not ex- 

 pect to fatten their animals out of nothing. However, they 

 go about this in a very economic way, for the same water 

 that grows the fish also grows the food on which they are 

 fed. This is chiefly the aquadelle, a tiny little fish which 

 is contained in the lakes in great numbers, and which, in 

 its turn, finds food in the insect and vegetable world of 

 the lagoons. Other fish are bred as well as the eel viz., 

 mullet, plaice, &c. On the 2d day of February the year 



