182 NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Remarkable migration of yonng eels. 



V to be once on a visit at a friend's house on 

 Dee-side, in Abcrdeenshire, I often delighted to 

 walk by the banks of the river. I one day ob- 

 served something like a black string moving 

 along the edge of the river in shoal water. Upon 

 closer inspection I discovered that this was a 

 shoal of young eels, so closely joined together 

 as to appear, on a superficial view, one continued 

 body moving briskly up against the stream. To 

 avoid the retardment they experienced from the 

 force of the current, they kept close along the 

 water's edge the whole of the way, following all 

 the bendings and sinuosities of the river. Where 

 they were embayed, and in still water, the shoal 

 dilated in breadth, so as to be sometimes near a 

 foot broad ; but when they turned a cape, where 

 the current was strong, they were forced to oc- 

 cupy less space, and press close to the shore, 

 struggling very hard till they passed it. 



" This shoal continued to move on night and 

 day, without interruption, for several weeks. 

 Their progress might be at the rate of about a 

 mile an hour. It was easy to catch the animals, 

 though they were very active and nimble. They 

 were eels perfectly formed in every respect, but 

 not exceeding two inches in length. I conceive 

 that the shoal did not contain, on an average, 

 less than from twelve to twenty in breadth ; so 

 that the number that passed on the whole, du- 

 ring their progress, must have been very great. 

 Whence they came, or whither they went, I 



