ANGUILLA VULGARIS. 375 



dorsal, and extends forward to the vent, which is three-and-a-half times 

 the length of the head from the snout. The rays are so soft, curved, and 

 thickly covered with skin, that they are counted with difficulty ; but, according 

 to Benecke, there are 1,100 rays in the combined dorsal, caudal, and anal fin. 

 There are eighteen or nineteen rays in the pectoral fin. 



The scales of the Eel are peculiar. They are extremely delicate, and are 

 arranged obliquely in two directions, at right angles to each other, so that they 

 give the skin an irregular, puckered appearance. They are small, elongated, 

 and transparent, formed of a single layer of cells, which are arranged in 

 concentric rows. The largest scales have a length of about two lines. They 

 nowhere overlap, but form a sort of network, with scaleless interspaces. There 

 are smaller scales on the head, and encircling the bases of the fins. The 

 lateral mucus canal is so large, and its walls so thick, that it is visible to the 

 naked eye in transverse section. It opens with simple pores. The cephalic- 

 canals are not less well developed ; the branch which runs over the eye 

 terminates, as already remarked, in a short barbel pore behind the upper lip. 

 There is a suborbital branch, and there are seven or eight pores on the branch 

 upon the lower jaw. 



The air-bladder is large, and one-fifth the length of the fish ; its anterior 

 blunt end is behind the stomach, and the pointed posterior end reaches back 

 to the vent. And there is a pneumatic canal which rises between two heart- 

 shaped bodies, and becoming narrower anteriorly, opens into the dorsal side 

 of the esophagus. The urinary bladder is rather large, and more triangular 

 than pear-shaped. Its opening is close behind the vent. 



The colour of the back, down to the middle of the side, is dark green. The 

 upper part of the head is darker, but shades into brown. The belly, throat, 

 and lower jaw are white, sometimes with a silvery lustre, sometimes yellowish. 

 The dorsal and caudal fins and hinder part of the anal fin have a brownish-green 

 colour, darker than the back. The pectoral fin is brownish-black with a black 

 border. The iris is of pale gold, almost silvery, but the colours vary with the 

 locality and season of the year. The pectoral fin and anterior part of the anal 

 are often pale, with a slightly reddish border. The anal, like the dorsal, may 

 have a yellowish-green border. 



The Eel ordinarily lives in deep water; it is common on muddy bottoms, 

 but prefers clear water. It is a voracious fish, and cases are known of 

 Eels eating each other, as well as snakes, water-rats, young water-fowl, and 

 river crayfish, but from the small size of the mouth their usual food is the fry 

 of other fishes, fish-spawn, worms, insect-larva?, and decomposing animal sub- 

 stances. Probably the Eel feeds on fresh-water mollusca, but takes its prey at 

 night when other fishes are at rest, while by day it hides itself in holes, or 



