THE FAMILY OF EELS. 317 



of the boundaries within which they are confined, and then 

 to apply their handlike tail so as to grasp the edge, and by 

 a convoluted contraction or retraction of the muscles to lift 

 the body over. 



There are times also when this wandering propensity of the 

 Eel appears to be brought into action by a craving for some 

 unusual kind of food, or it may be, even for the mere love 

 of adventure. An Eel has been taken on the land by means 

 of a hook baited with a worm, and set to catch a bird. It 

 is said to have been known to devour newly-sown peas in a 

 garden; and I have been credibly assured that one was found 

 in a field of turnips at the distance of a quarter of a mile 

 from a river; all which circumstances, with other direct proofs, 

 afford evidence that these fish are able to live for a long time 

 out of the water; which circumstance is indeed explained by 

 the fact that their gills are closely shut up from the drying 

 influence of air, and that from being smeared over with glutinous 

 moisture, the skin is always preserved from becoming dry, 

 which process of drying is the cause of death in many species 

 of marine animals. 



It has been disputed whether the growth of Eels is speedy 

 or exceedingly slow; and Lacepede had formed the opinion of 

 its being so greatly delayed, that many years must pass before 

 they can reach the size in which they are usually found; but 

 to compensate for this, he supposed their natural length of life 

 to be lengthened to almost a hundred years. And in support 

 of these suppositions he adduces the authority of a friend who 

 placed in a tank sixty of these fish of very small size; where 

 after nine years they had only increased from the length of 

 nineteen centimetres to twenty-six; but this writer takes no 

 note of the food supplied, nor does he appear to be aware 

 of the effect of limited confinement on the growth of fishes; 

 and his conclusion is disproved by an experiment of his 

 countryman M. Coste, who placed young Eels in a reservoir, 

 with a sufficient supply of food, and in four or five years they 

 had attained the weight of from four to six pounds. 



Mr. Daniel produces an authentic instance of an Eel which 

 lived in a well for at least upwards of thirty-one years; but 

 we cannot venture to admit his supposition that in Lough 

 Neagh they have grown in four months from the size of small 



