EELS AND LAMPERNES. 251 



were not iisli not yet arrived at the '^running'," 

 or general condition of the others. I am dealing 

 with facts as they occurred under my own ob- 

 servation, leaving the question open as to whether 

 it is condition alone which makes the diiferonco 

 between the eel and the snig. 



It is true that, in many instances, the head of 

 the snig has a more pointed nose and a smaller 

 jaw than the accredited eel ; but if we are to 

 pronounce as a distinct species on a physiognomy 

 so trifling, we of the Vale of Berkeley, and our 

 noble neighbours on the Cotswolcl Hills, our re- 

 spective noses being widely different, aquiline 

 and snub, may be quoted as distinct species of the 

 genus man I Anatomists and naturalists often 

 assume to distinguish new species by dissection 

 and colour; thus, an additional bone or varying 

 vertebrae in beast or fish, or in the plumage of 

 a bird, is seized upon by anxious discoverers of 

 mares'-nests to denote a new species, as in the 

 dun and fawn coloured whole snipe, whose different 

 hue, in my opinion, arises from accident. That the 

 change of plumage does not of necessity define 

 species, is proved by the ruff and ree, of whom 

 scarce two species are clothed alike. The fact, 



