THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 173 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Observations of the Eel, and other fish that want scales ; and how to Fish 



for them. 



PiscATOR. It is agreed by most men, that the eel* is a most 

 dainty fish ; the Romans have esteemed her the Helena of their 

 feasts, and some the queen of palate pleasure. But most men 



* Anguila Vulgaris. Angtiila from Anguis, a snake. No great favor- 

 ite with the angler, but curious from its natural history, classical associa- 

 tions, and great cunning. The notion of its being bred otherwise than 

 other animals, is not now believed ; and the difficulty of accounting for 

 eels being found in pools where they could not have been bred, is relieved 

 by facts showing that they have been known at times to leave the water, 

 seeking for new dwelling places. Jessie ( Gleanings in JVatxiral History , 

 2d Series) says, that " near Bristol there is a large pond with a large tree 

 growing upon its banks, the branches of which hang down into the water, 

 and by means of these branches, the young eels ascend into the tree, 

 and thence let themselves drop into the stream below the dam. The tree 

 at times seemed alive, from the numbers of young eels upon it." Yarrell 

 iays that " there is no doubt eels occasionally quit the water ; and where 

 the grass meadows are wet from dew or other causes, travel during the 

 night over the moist surface in search of food or to change their situation." 

 The best ichthyologists now agree that the eel produces its young by spawn- 

 ing, and two migrations of eels have been ascertained — the one in the au- 

 tumn to the sea by the adult eels, as is believed, for the purpose of depo- 

 siting their spawn ; the other in the spring, of very small eels. Whether 

 the adult eels return up the rivers is not so certain, though some good ob- 

 servers believe that they do (see Yarrel, Jessie's Gleanings in A''atiiral 

 History, 2d Series, &c.) The opinions of the ancients on the subject 

 were various ; Aristotle {JVat. Hist., IV. II.) thought that they sprung from 

 the mud in which they were to lie — hence their Greek name ly^eXis for 

 tAvf, mud ; Pliny, that they were propagated from particles which they 

 rubbed off from their bodies against the rocks ; Oppian, a closer observer, 

 says : — 



" Strange the productions of the eely race. 



That knows no sex, yet love the close embrace ; * 



