124 THE AGE OF EELS 



down to breakfast. Before he had finished his meal, the 

 eels had thawed, and were wriggling all over the floor. 

 Peter was a Highlander, a race which I have not found 

 less veracious than others. His yarn has so much support 

 as may be derived from numerous other stories of frozen 

 eels. Desmarest's eel, aforesaid, was once frozen in its 

 pan in Paris, and survived the experience. What say the 

 physiologists ? 



The ease with which eels travel for considerable dis- 

 tances over dry. or at least damp land, and their extra- 

 ordinary tenacity of life after being taken from the water, 

 are well-known characteristics of the animal. Not so 

 well known is the beautiful mechanism which enables 

 this water-breathing creature to endure long exposure to 

 a dry atmosphere. The gill openings are very small slits, 

 protected by a fine membrane stretched over slender 

 arched bones after the manner of an umbrella. Behind 

 each slit is a considerable cavity, at the back of which is 

 situated the gill. Within this cavity enough water is 

 retained to keep the delicate folds of the gills floating; 

 and until this supply of water is exhausted, the eel will 

 not die of suffocation. 



It is unlucky for the eel that it has been cast in the 

 form of a serpent, which interferes with its popularity. 

 Unlucky, did I say ? Nay, in Scotland this tells greatly 

 to its advantage; for the current prejudice against it as 

 an article of food is the reason why the eel fishery is 

 wholly neglected in that country. Dame Juliana Berners 

 had no good to say of it. 'The Ele,' she wrote, 'is a 

 quaysie Fysshe. A ravenour and devourer of the brode 

 of Fysshe, and the Pike.' 



