THE EEL FAMILY 2OI 



the soft roes were of considerable size and well developed, in 

 others they were very small, but in no case were they 

 actually ripe. On the other hand ripe male specimens were re- 

 peatedly obtained among small conger, under the above limit of 

 length, kept alive in the aquarium. The^argest male which I 

 measured was 2 feet 2 inches long, and the smallest ripe specimen 

 1 8 inches. I found it was usually possible with some care and 

 practice to distinguish the males from females of about the 

 same size. The chief differences are that the belly of the male 

 is more pigmented than that of the female, that the snout of the 

 male is blunter at the end and flatter above than that of the 

 female. The eyes are larger in ripe males that are kept alive 

 some time in the aquarium, but this is a difference that cannot 

 be relied upon in unripe males. In fact, as might be expected, 

 all the differences are less distinct in unripe specimens, so that 

 it is easy to be mistaken in picking out certain specimens as 

 males. I was able however to select a number of living males 

 and keep them alive until they became ripe, and found that this 

 could be done without any difficulty. Ripe male conger can 

 thus be obtained in a well-appointed aquarium in any numbers 

 desired. I further observed that ripe males do not feed, and 

 that although they continue to live for a long time they become 

 gradually thin and weak. The emaciation of the head causes 

 the eyes to have a proportionally large size and strikingly pro- 

 minent appearance, which is alone sufficient to distinguish a ripe 

 male to an experienced observer. It need scarcely be said that 

 the ripeness of the males was ascertained by taking them out 

 of the tank and gently squeezing the belly ; the ripe milt escaped 

 freely, and was examined under the microscope, so that its 

 nature was ascertained beyond a doubt. One of these ripe 

 specimens lived from December I3th to the following June 24th, 

 when it died. Throughout this time it took no food, and it 

 gradually became very weak, thin, and maimed. On March /th 

 it still yielded milt, which was quite healthy, and the fish when 

 touched moved with considerable activity. But it was quite 

 blind, one eye being entirely ulcerated, the other clouded and 

 opaque. The skin was torn or rubbed off in places. When it 

 died its condition was still worse. 



The males seemed to be less numerous than the females even 

 among specimens of the same size : of thirty-four recorded 





