308 THE FAMILY OF EELS. 



able to find them there; and Spallanzani, led by the same 

 opinion, and to account for his own want of success in this 

 search, explained it by saying that the parents went down to 

 the sea to produce their young; and consequently were then 

 beyond his reach. This remark is indeed to a large extent 

 true, although not in the way in which he understood it; but 

 whether there exists some difference in this respect in what are 

 now recognised as different species, has not yet been inquired 

 into. 



As regards the difference of species among Eels, we have 

 seen that Aristotle had no doubt, and in this he is followed 

 by Jonston; but while naturalists of a later date were content 

 to bury themselves in the obscurity of the ancients, fishermen 

 were persuaded of the existence of several kinds; thus antici- 

 pating the conclusion of recent naturalists, who now describe 

 three which have been discovered in our own country, and of 

 which we have some supposition as regards a fourth; although 

 in respect of the exact nature of one of them, some hesitation 

 may still remain. Of the distinguishing habits of each of these 

 species there is little known with certainty; for which reason it 

 has been judged best to describe in the first place what appears 

 to be common to all of them, and to reserve such particulars 

 as are peculiar to each until we come to the description of the 

 individual species. 



With some reserve as regards the several sorts we have no 

 knowledge of any fishes that are so widely distributed over the 

 world as Eels. Mr. Lowe speaks of them as being the only 

 native fresh-water fish of Madeira; where they abound in 

 torrents up to the height of about five hundred feet above the 

 sea; and Fabricius mentions them among the fishes of Greenland. 

 They are common in every rivulet in the British Islands, and 

 over the continent of Europe; and especially abundant in the 

 countries bounding the north and east of the Mediterranean. 

 We hear of them also in Japan and portions of China, with 

 other (temperate) portions of Asia; but Philip Von Strahlenberg, 

 in his "Travels in Siberia," informs us that they are not found 

 in the rivers of that country. It has been commonly believed 

 that no Eels are met with in the Danube; but the contrary 

 is affirmed by Dr. Reisinger, in his "Ichthyology of Hungary," 

 who says he ha» known them there, although not in abundance, 



