THE EEL. 839 



be given, but they would serve no useful purpose. The sum total of the 

 matter is, that they spaivn like other fish. 



And that they will spawn in inland waters, both Couch and Yarrell, 

 as well as other lesser observers, including myself, agree. I think they 

 prefer, however, to visit brackish water for the purpose, if possible. A 

 gentleman once mentioned as within his own knowledge that tiny eels 

 were seen coming up through the sand of a stream near Eavensbourne, 

 and the Eev. W. Houghton confirms this in a paper, written years ago, 

 in the "Quarterly Review," in which he mentions a place on the Eiver 

 Shin, where he found it alive "with young eels, some of them scarcely 

 hatched, at the depth of five to fifteen inches." It will be seen that 

 these instances corroborate Mr. Couch, junior, very materially. Mr. 

 Buckland says he once found some young eels hatching out. This was 

 on the rocks near the entrance of the harbour at Galway. 



It is very clear that, if it be possible, eels prefer to spawn in the 

 brackish water of the sea. At the part of a river where the fresh passes 

 into the salt water, the salt water, from its greater specific gravity, flows 

 beneath the former ; and there it is that the young eels are sent to mount 

 from below and seek to pass up stream. In some rivers they assume the 

 character of a dense mass of wriggling, struggling, tiny eels, often of a 

 considerable length, breadth, and depth. On the Severn and Thames 

 this upward migration of eels is termed eel fare the Saxon word fare 

 meaning to go, to pass, to traverse. On the former river, according to 

 Daniel, in "Rural Sports," "The elvers (or eelets) taken in the Severn 

 about April are supposed to be the fry of the conger eels ; they quite 

 swarm during their season, and are taken in a kind of sieve made of 

 hair cloth fixed to a long pole ; the fisherman standing on the edge of the 

 water during the tide puts in his net as far as he can reach, and drawing 

 it out again takes multitudes at every sweep, and will collect as many 

 during one tide as will fill a bushel ; they are esteemed very delicate." 

 They are not conger fry, as Daniel intimates, however. 



In the Thames they are no longer seen in such masses. When Yarrell 

 wrote, and within the recollection of many fishermen of my acquaintance, 

 the numbers of these little eels were immense. Some idea may be 

 gathered of the quantity when it is stated that in 1832 as many as from 

 1600 to 1800 of these fish had been seen to pass a given spot in a minute 

 of time. How they were counted Yarrell does not say. It is certainly 

 impossible for any person to count eighteen hundred in a minute. Any- 

 how the number is, I know, a probable one. These eelets, or elvers, 

 are very light coloured in spring, but become of a greenish brown by July 

 or August. 



It has been a matter of remark with what persistency these little 



z2 



