ARTIFICIAL FISH PONDS. 107 



some holding them to be viviparous, others ovipa- 

 rous. Although, by late experiments, some light has 

 been thrown upon this question, it may scarcely be said 

 to be set at rest. 



Very singular stories have also been told of the over- 

 land migrations of eels, which, if true, may possibly 

 account for the circumstance of their being discovered 

 in artificial ponds and other places, into which they 

 were not originally put. Those, however, who as- 

 sert the fact of such migrations, unite in allowing that 

 they are made for the purpose of reaching the salt water 

 in the autumn months, and that eels are never found on 

 land unless with their heads turned toward the sea. 

 On considering the matter, we question very much if 

 even its well-known tenacity of life would enable an 

 eel to exist and move forward for a period of half an 

 hour at most, upon a hard surface, and out of its ele- 

 ment ; and it also strikes us as not a little singular, that 

 of the many who give credit to these overland migra- 

 tions, so few should actually have witnessed them ; 

 nay, of these few, almost all allow the migrating eels 

 to be not above three inches in length, and on every 

 occasion found within a rood or two of the water-side. 



But to return to the fish best adapted for artificial 

 waters in Scotland. It may be asked, why is the char 

 excluded ? If a native fish, and for food so dainty and 

 delicate, may not the experiment be hazarded, with 

 some chance of success, of bringing it under the care 

 and keeping of man ? This we doubt; for be it noted, 

 how the char is found only in lochs which are very deep 

 and very clear qualities that artificial fish ponds in no 

 one instance combine. Moreover, for aught that na- 

 turalists have discovered, the common food of char may 

 be entirely local, as we are of opinion it is ; for in some 

 districts, where there are numbers of small lochs of the 



