THE EEL. 365 



flattened from the eyes forward ; both jaws broad and blnnt, the lower 

 jaw the wider and longer than the tipper ; nostrils double, one tubular, the 

 other a plain orifice ; the gape large, lips fleshy, teeth more numerous than 

 in either of the other British fresh-water species, larger, stronger, and 

 forming a much broader band in each jaw ; the eyes large, placed before 

 the line of the gape ; irides golden yellow, the gill-openings, pectoral fins, 

 the commencement of the dorsal fin, and the vent placed farther back 

 than in the sharp-nosed eel ; dorsal and anal fins also much deeper and 

 thicker, the tail broad and rounded ; the body of the fish thicker for the 

 same length than in other eels, the number of vertebrae 115. 



The snig eel, so called and classed by Tarrell as A. mediorostris is, in 

 my opinion, the young A. acutirostris, and is not a separate species. 

 Couch agrees that the differences cannot be readily appreciated. Stress has 

 been laid upon a supposed deficiency of bony processes springing from the 

 vertebrae in this eel, which are present in other species. I think, how- 

 ever, that this is an error. A question has arisen whether this fish is 

 that which, at the end of Eay's " Synopsis Piscium," is termed a "free 

 eel" (A. libera), and of which he says: "A congero differt saporae 

 fucundiore et ossicolosum defectu quibus Congri abundunt," and a 

 question also arises in my mind, whether it is not the same as the 

 "Grigg" of the Thames fishermen. Both are of small size, and both 

 very closely resemble each other at least I do not see any material 

 difference. If this be so, I have only to add my further conviction that 

 both are only different to the before-mentioned species because they are 

 young and immature, not having spawned. 



