AND OF STILL WATERS. 



as the sharp-nosed eel j for it seldom, if ever, 

 attains more than half a pound in weight. The 

 sharp-nosed eel, on the contrary, attains an 

 enormous size. One on record taken in the 

 Medway, not far from Rochester, weighed 

 34 lbs., measured 6 ft. in length, and had a 

 girth of 25 ins. Another eel, taken in Kent, 

 weighed 40 lbs., and measured 5 ft. 9 ins. 

 Yarrell speaks of having seen at Cambridge the 

 preserved skins of two which had weighed 

 together 50 lbs.; the heaviest 27 lbs., the other 

 23 lbs. But these instances, though not to be 

 regarded as apocryphal, are still very excep- 

 tional ; and a fair average weight for sharp- 

 nosed eels is 6 lbs. Eels of even 10 lbs. weight 

 are hot common, and Mr. Frank Buckland 

 speaks of one of that size as being the largest he 

 had ever seen. 



From time immemorial eels have been much 

 esteemed by epicures, more perhaps in ancient 

 days than they are now. Both Aristotle and 

 Aristophanes mention eels in terms of high 

 praise ; indeed, the former may be considered 

 to have known more about eels than the con- 

 temporary we have already referred to, for he 



