164 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



very far inland never, in later years, show any disposi- 

 tion to retnrn to the sea, and j'et, beyond its boundaries 

 they never breed. So far as is now known, a certain 

 proportion of young eels annually ascend our rivers, and 

 never return. These are barren, whatever age they may 

 acquire; and why they come and lead a life so different 

 from their brethren in the sea is an unsolved mystery. 

 From my own rather limited observations, I judge that 

 these young eels grow very slowly, even under the most 

 favorable circumstances. Specimens which were fed 

 with great regularity and kept under scrutiny for near- 

 ly two years were but one fourth heavier at the end of 

 twenty-two months than when caught and placed in con- 

 finement. Some allowance, possibly, should be made for 

 the fact that they were not under absolutely natural con- 

 ditions; but granting this, it is doubtful if they double 

 their weight every two years, under average conditions. 

 At such a rate, some of the old five-pound eels of our 

 mill ponds must be veritable patriarchs. 



" If eels are very lively, it is a sign of rain ;" so runs 

 an old saying; but when, pray, are they not? Being 

 nocturnal, of course, they are less active during mid- 

 day than midnight, but I have never found them want- 

 ing in activity, and the relationship of their movements 

 to the weather is not apparent in the neighborhood of 

 Poaetquissings. 



A word now as to eels as land-animals. It is not 

 proper to speak of them as air-breathing fishes, and just 

 how they get over the difficulty of respiration, when on 

 land, constructed as they are, I shall not endeavor to 

 explain ; but the fact exists, that eels not only occasion- 



