164 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



spring ; and in the months of April and May 

 following, myriads of young eels, about three 

 inches in length, ascend the rivers, and fix 

 their stations in different localities. Doubtless, 

 many of the young remain permanently in the 

 brackish water of the estuary, or even in the 

 salt water near the river's mouth. With respect 

 to the adult eels, their return is not clearly 

 ascertained ; nor are we to suppose that all the 

 adult eels in tidal rivers descend to the sea, for 

 we know that they bury themselves in the mud 

 to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches, and 

 generally in such a spot as is covered .by the 

 water of a land- drain, when the tide is at its 

 ebb. " In Somersetshire," says Mr. Yarrell, 

 " the people know how to find the holes in the 

 banks of rivers in which eels are laid up, by 

 the hoar-frost not lying over them as it does 

 elsewhere, and dig them out in heaps."* 

 Nevertheless, that numbers of eels make an 

 autumnal descent is unquestionable, and in 

 tideway rivers, such as the Thames, permanent 

 erections are constructed for their capture 

 during their progress, trap-baskets of wicker- 

 work, and other kinds of cages, being fixed 

 in a proper manner, so as to intercept and 



* In the upper Danube, about Ulm, eels abound, but do not 

 migrate to the sea. 



