56 THE EEL. 



mention of its name, as he does when he talks of 

 a toad or a lizard, or other object of St Patrick's 

 anathema. There are, however, eel-fisheries in 

 some Irish rivers Ballyshannon, for instance, 

 which are highly productive; and I have often 

 wondered that one has not been set up in Tweed, 

 which swarms with the brightest, whitest, and 

 largest eels I have ever seen. They are, moreover, 

 terrible enemies to the Salmonida. 



The reader will please to bear in mind that the 

 eel is a fish, and has scales and fins, as a fish ought 

 to have. It is classed by Yarrell &s"Anguilla" 

 with the distinction "acuti-" or "lati-rostris" accord- 

 ing to the shape of its nose. According to this 

 author, they are capable of a considerable amount 

 of domestication, at any rate of taming. They will 

 come to call, eat out of your hand, and distinguish 

 their feeder. Eels, however, can hardly be con- 

 sidered as eligible pets, and would, I think, be quite 

 incapable of anything like disinterested friendship. 



The eel is a great sleeper, and spends all the 

 winter in its muddy bed, from whence it is some- 

 times rudely extracted by the eel-spear above- 

 mentioned. 



