:37S THE FRESH- WATER FISHES OF EUROPE. 



The eggs steadily increase in size during the later part of the year. In 

 August their diameter is '09 of a millimetre; in September '10 of a 

 millimetre; in October '16 of a millimetre, and in November from '18 to 

 "23 of a millimetre. Nevertheless, fishes were found later, in December and 

 January, in the rivers and Haffs on the Prussian coast, with eggs having a 

 diameter of only '03 to '09 millimetre. Hence it appears that the Eels which 

 were going to spawn had already left for deeper water, and that all Eels do not 

 spawn every year. 



The young come up from the sea in myriads, travelling in North Germany 

 at night in March and April, or in some streams as late as May. Old fishes 

 have never been observed returning with them, so that the old Eels which run 

 down to the sea on stormy nights in the autumn, are lost to the fisherman. 

 Crespon records seeing, near the mouth of the Rhone, a mass of these young 

 Eels, each about two inches long, united into a huge globular lump. It 

 constantly rose and descended in the water ; and the young gradually became 

 detached into a kind of rope, and ascended the river, keeping to the banks, 

 and entering every creek and tributary. The procession lasted for fifteen days. 



Dr. Ehlers saw a similar migration in the Elbe. The young Eels, three to 

 four inches long, kept so close to the bank that they followed its every outline, 

 in a band about a foot wide and of unknown depth, which was observed to 

 pass without intermission for nearly two days. These great swarms, however, 

 are not observed every year. In Britain the Eel-swarms, in Sutherland and 

 the more northern rivers, come up the rivers in April or May, and the similar 

 Eel-fare in the Thames is usually at the same period. 



When the young are observed in May they rarely reach a length of four 

 inches, but when they go down stream in October the length is nine and a hal f 

 to ten inches. 



In the rivers and lagoons on the coast of Italy the fry of the Eel, according 

 to Professor Giglioli, swarm during December, January, and February, in 

 countless myriads. They are vermiform and semi-transparent, are known as 

 Leche, and give occasion for active fishing. 



In some localities, the Elvers, as the Eel fry are termed, are caught, scoured, 

 cooked, and made into cakes, which are sometimes, in the west of England, cut 

 in slices, and fried. Before the middle of this century the New River Water 

 Company in London occasionally distributed Elvers with its water, so that it was 

 no unusual circumstance for a number to be found in a cistern, and for water- 

 pipes to be occasionally stopped by Eels, which had found their way into them, 

 though this accident has since been guarded against by improved filtration. 

 With the slightest assistance they ascend waterfalls, and the Irish proprietors 

 have for a long time constructed ladders of straw bands to aid their ascent. 



