THE EEL. 343 



is above suspicion) assures me that a portion of his lawn forms an 

 isthmus separating two lakes which have no water connection, and that 

 he has set a net repeatedly on this strip of land during summer, and thus 

 captured eels of respectable size and weight on the dry land. Perhaps 

 in confirmation of this I may be allowed to cite the example given by 

 Dr. Hastings, the learned natural historian, of Worcestershire. He 

 says : " A relative of the late Mr. Perrott was out in his park with his 

 keeper, near a large piece of water, on a very beautiful evening, when 

 the keeper drew his attention to a fine eel quietly aseending the bank of 

 the pool, and with an undulating motion making its way through the 

 long grass. On further observation he perceived a considerable number 

 of eels quietly proceeding to a range of stews nearly the distance of a 

 quarter of a mile from the larger piece of water from whence they 

 started." How the eels got informed of the other pieces of water is 

 undiscoverable, but that they do know in what direction the water lies 

 I can safely affirm, and anyone may prove it for himself by placing an 

 eel in the grass of a field, say a quarter of a mile from the nearest pool 

 or stream of water. It will, after a few wriggles, point its head and 

 attempt its way thither without fail. 



Besides this corroboration of my view that they intelligently vacate 

 their present quarters for others more to their liking, whether such lie 

 overland or not, there is a whole mass of testimony afforded by other 

 writers, some of which exhibits details of an exceedingly curious nature. 

 Thus, in Patterson's " Zoology," he relates that the Irish fishermen are 

 wise enough to provide haybands for the assistance of such eels as desire 

 to climb over the rocks to other waters. Daniels says they fish with a 

 kind of straw rope, into which the eels get entangled, and are thus 

 drawn ashore. Couch says that within his own observation, when a 

 leaden pipe which conveyed water from the roof of a house to a cistern 

 15ft. from the ground became obstructed, and in consequence a portion 

 of it was cut off, the pressure of the water on the upper part was seen 

 to thrust out, head foremost, three eels, each 22in. in length, and no two 

 of which were able to pass each other in the tube. Various instances of 

 a similar character are also related by Thompson, in his "History of 

 Ireland." 



The part in which this power of vermicular wandering chiefly lies is 

 the tail. It is an especially curious sight to see an eel escaping from 

 confinement, by means of this part of its anatomy. I recollect a most 

 ludicrous instance of this tsking place some years ago, whilst I was trans- 

 porting some large eels a considerable distance by rail. It was winter 

 time, and knowing the fish would travel perfectly well in damp moss, I 

 packed three in a spacious hamper, enveloping them with sphagnum moss 



