EELS AND LAMPERNES. 261 



they were performing, that they took not the slightest 

 notice of us. Clear and transparent as the water 

 was, in depth, perhaps, about five feet, not a motion 

 nor an act of the fish escaped my deeply-interested 

 study. Their occupation was as follows : — They 

 were boring a hole in the clay, as I supposed, 

 to dejDOsit their ova, but that is simply conjec- 

 ture on my part. First one fish and then the 

 other seized hold of the clay with its round, 

 extended, and sack-like mouth, and then twisted 

 round and round for a considerable time, as fast as 

 a carpenter could use a gimlet ^^ bit-and-brace." 



When the then considerably extended mouth 

 and throat had bored . from the bottom of the 

 river a large, round pellet of clay, the fish turned 

 about, and, descending the river for some three 

 or four feet, he deposited his burden, and was 

 immediately succeeded at the hole he had left 

 above by the second fish, who in its turn descended 

 to deposit the clay, while the former fish again 

 returned and continued the ojieration. Having 

 watched this '^ division of labour" for a considerable 

 time, I resolved to attempt the capture of the fish. 

 Taking off the single perch hook, I added to 

 my line a brace of snap-hooks for pike, putting 



