112 NOTES AND 



maneritly stationary, yet, strange as it may appear, I am told that none are to 

 be seen above the cataract of Niagara, or in Lake Erie. The eels migrate every 

 autumn to the sea, for the purpose of propagation, and the young ones return up 

 the streams in spring and summer, in immense numbers. Some stay in fresh wa- 

 ter all the year; but they do not breed ; and it seems to be a fact well estab- 

 lished, that they do never breed in fresh water, the periodical descent of the old 

 ones to the ocean, and ascent of the young ones from thence, prove that the 

 scene of their propagation is in the sea itself. The route by the Mississippi is 

 so long that these periodical journeys are impracticable ; and although often 

 seen ascending the rocks forty or 6fty feet at the Niagara falls, yet they have 

 been invariably driven back, and have not been- able to reach Lake Erie in that 

 direction. The eel is, in one respect, like the shad j the latter does not at- 

 tempt to ascend the Mississippi j now and then a meager herring is caught at 

 Pittsburgh, which has struggled upwards of two thousand miles against a strong 

 current, If eels were left in Lake Erie after the deluge, they must have be- 

 come extinct in process of time, from the impracticability of access to the oceai, 

 where alone they can propagate. A remarkable fact, corroborating this opinion, 

 occurred, a few years ago, in the vicinity of this city. The river Passaic is form- 

 ed by the union of three considerable streams, called Rockaway, Long Pond, 

 -and Ramapough creeks. Until a canal was, some years ago, cut round the 

 great falls at Paterson, no eel was ever seen in the waters above. Since that 

 time they abound in those streams, and are among the best in this country, both 

 for size and quality. The elvers, or. small eels, are seen every spring 

 and the beginning of every summer, ascending those streams in immense 

 numbers. 



The natural history of the eel has always been, and still is, involved in grear 

 obscurity. 



Oppian thus describes the generation of the eel .- 



"Not thus couchs, eels, and polypi embrace, 

 Nor purple lampreys rear their embryo race 

 In selfish coils, hermaphrodite they sit, 

 And their own power the vital spume emit. 

 Which gradual dropp'd on sands or slimy mud, 

 A silver offering render to the flood." 



Translated by GOOD, in a note to his LUCRETIUS, vol . 1 . 



It is not certain whether eels are oviparous, or viviparous. It is confidently 

 asserted that many persons have convinced themselves of the latter, by opening 

 the eel and taking from it a small, soft, whitish substance, knotted curiously to- 



