THE FAMILY OF EELS.' 315 



wisdom to provide haybands, which are hung over the rocky 

 parts of rivers to help the Eels in overcoming the obstructions 

 which lie in their way; and Mr. Daniel, in his Supplement to 

 Rural Sports, further says that in the same country a kind of 

 fishery is employed by means of ropes of straw laid across the 

 stream, into which these Eels entangle themselves, and thus 

 arc drawn on shore. Within my own observation, when these 

 young Eels have quitted the water, and are come to a dry 

 spot, they have always turned away in search of moisture, 

 which they follow; and so when a season is dripping with wet, 

 they sometimes wander into extraordinary situations. Thus, 

 when a leaden pipe which conveyed water from the roof of a 

 house to a cistern, that was fifteen feet above the ground, 

 had become obstructed, and in consequence a portion of it was 

 cut off, the pressure of the water in the upper part was seen 

 to thrust out, head foremost, three Eels, each twenty-two inches 

 in length, and no two of which were able to pass each other 

 in the tube. Instances of a similar kind are mentioned by Mr. 

 Thompson, in his "Natural History of Ireland." The fate of 

 these young Eels for the most part appears uncertain; but the 

 numbers which again pass downward are seen to be con- 

 siderably less than can be accounted for without supposing 

 that they meet with many devourers; among which man may 

 be the least formidable, although in some places these little 

 fish are sought after, and are formed into cakes to be fried as 

 food. On one occasion there were for sale in the market at 

 Exeter two cartloads of them, so small as not to exceed the 

 size of a stocking-needle, and each load weighing four hundred- 

 weight. These were already prepared for the table, and were 

 dispensed to customers at fourpence the pound. 



Among these early migrating young Eels there are occasionally 

 found examples which are distinguished by remarkable trans- 

 parency, so that the internal organs, with the action of the 

 heart and blood-vessels, can be easily traced. These are popularly 

 termed Elvers, although this name is sometimes applied indis- 

 criminately to all young Eels; but I have not been able to 

 decide that this transparency is a character of any one of the 

 species of this family as distinguished from the others. I have 

 not known them to form one of the company of migrating 

 young black ones high in the fresh water, except in the Fowey 



