MAY 103 



of a single species in different stages. Eels are bred in 

 abysmal depths of the ocean, ascend rivers and brooks in 

 the form of elvers, and live for an indefinite number of 

 years in the fresh water. When their ovaries mature, 

 they have to seek the sea (whence they never return) 

 to deposit their spawn ; but before starting they 

 undergo a change of colour ; the yellow tints disappear 

 from their flanks, the dark olive on their upper parts 

 assumes a lighter tint, and the whole fish assumes a 

 silvery appearance. 



XVII 



' It is five yere or more ago 



That it was Mey, thus dremed me, 



In time of love and jolite, 



That all thing ginneth waxen gay 



For ther is neither bushe nor hay l 



In Mey, but it will shrouded bene 



And it with new leves wrene . . . 



And than become the ground so proud 



That it woll have a new shroud, 



And maketh so quient his robe and fayre 



That it hath hewes an hundred pay re 



Of grasse and flours . . . 



Hard is his hert that loveth nought 



In Mey, whan all his mirth is wrought, 



Whan he may on these braunches here 



The small birds singen clere.' 



Spring has served and shall serve as a theme for 

 many a bard of less renown than Chaucer, 

 but there is one little phenomenon of the 

 season which has not yet been celebrated in verse, yet 

 which, if caret vates sacer, deserves a note in dull prose 



1 Hay, a hedge. Our word ' hawthorn ' signifies ' hedge-thorn.' 



