FISHES. 45 



The Common Eels (muraena anguilla), plate 20, fig. 

 5, have a snake-like form, are about four feet long, and 

 sometimes weigh above six pounds. Their color is black- 

 ish-green, and they are found in all rivers and lakes in 

 Europe and America ; more abundantly, however, in 

 the northern than southern climates. By day they keep 

 buried in the mud or lie concealed in holes, which they 

 excavate near the shore ; these are extensive and have 

 three openings. At night they issue forth in search of 

 prey, which consists of worms, insects, small fish, spawn, 

 and even carrion. In wet weather they occasionally 

 make some journeys on the land, for instance, into pea- 

 fields ; by taking advantage of these times and strewing 

 the shore with dry ashes, through which the eels crawl 

 with great difficulty, they are easily captured. In the 

 spring they abandon their fresh water homes and go to 

 the sea, where they deposit their eggs. During winter 

 they bed themselves in holes, and continue throughout 

 the cold season in a state of rest. Several hundreds are 

 often found together. The usual manner of catching 

 eels is by having a kind of basket at the end of a mill- 

 race. The so-called fish-basket is thus arranged : some 

 beams are laid obliquely in the bottom of the stream, the 

 ends of which lead to the basket at the end of the race. 

 The eels crawl mostly on the bottom, and thus, instead of 

 surmounting those beams, pass easily into a snare. Their 

 tenacity of life is remarkable, and when full grown, they 

 are so' strong, that, it is said, a stroke from one of them 

 can break a man's arm. As they are very hard to hold 

 on account of their slippery skins and great agility, it is 

 necessary to rub the hands in dry ashes and seize the fish 

 by the head and tail and bend the two extremities to- 

 gether ; thus they can not strike. The flesh of the eel 



