EEL. 



taken in the river Cam, at Clay Hithe, in March 

 of the last year (1845), and is now preserved in the 

 Museum of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 

 The whole fish, when first taken out of the water, 

 was of a rich golden-yellow, with the exception of a 

 few black spots on the fins. One of these spots was 

 in front of the first dorsal ; two were on the second 

 dorsal, one a little beyond the middle, the other at 

 the extremity of that fin; besides which there were 

 two or three dark stains on the caudal. The length 

 of this fish rather exceeded eight inches. 



EEL. 



MANY years back, two eels of an enormous size 

 were taken in a drain near Wisbeach, weighing toge- 

 ther not less than fifty pounds ; the larger one twenty- 

 eight, the smaller twenty-two pounds. The length 

 of each was upwards of six feet, and the girth equal- 

 ling that of a man's leg. These eels were of the 

 sharp-nosed kind,* and probably the largest of which 

 any record exists. Their stuffed skins were long 

 exhibited at a fishmonger's shop in Cambridge, where 

 I took Mr. Yarrell to see them in the summer of 

 1830, who assisted me in the determination of the 

 species. Since then the shop has been removed, and 

 I am ignorant what has become of them, or whether 

 even they are still in existence. It is worthy of note 

 that these eels were taken on the occasion of clean- 

 ing the drain out, and that no other fish of any kind, 



* Anguilla acutirostris, Yarr. 



