CHAP. XIII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 171 



drest, be not only excellent good, but more harmless than 

 any other way, yet it is certain that physicians account 

 the Eel dangerous meat ; 1 will advise you therefore, as 

 Solomon says of honey, Prov. xxv. " Hast thou found it, 

 eat no more than is sufficient, lest thou surfeit, for it is 

 not good to eat much honey." And let me add this, that 

 the uncharitable Italian bids us " give Eels and no wine 

 to our enemies." 



And I will beg a little more of your attention, to tell 

 you, that Aldrovandus, and divers physicians, commend 

 the Eel very much for medicine, though not for meat. 

 But let me tell you one observation, that the Eel is never 

 out of season ; as Trouts, and most other fish, are at set 

 times ; at least, most Eels are not. 1 



(I) The haunts of the Eel are, weeds, under roots, stumps of trees, holes, and 

 clefis of the earth, both in the banks and at the l-ottom, and iu the plain mud, 

 where thry lie with only their heads out, watching for prey. They are also 

 found under great stones, old timber, about flood-gates, weirs, budges, and old 

 mills. They delight in still waters, and in those that are foul and muddy; 

 though the smaller Eels are to be met with in all sorts of rivers and soils. 



Although the manner in which Eels, and indeed all fish, are generated, is suf- 

 ficiently settled, as appears by the foregoing notes; there yet remains a ques- 

 tion undecided by naturalists; and that is, Whether the Eel be an oviparous or 

 a viviparous fish ? Walton inclines to the latter opinion. The following rela- 

 tion frem Bowlker may go near to determine the question : 



" Being acquainted with an elderly woman, who had been wife to a miller 

 near fifty years, and much employed in dressing of Eels, I asked her whether 

 sh,e had ever found any spawn or eggs in those Eels she opened ? She said she 

 had never observed any ; but that he had sometimes found living Eels in them, 

 about the bipness of a small uredle ; and particularly, that she once took out 

 ten or twelve, and put them upon the table, and found them to be alive; which 

 was confirmed to me by the rest of the family. The time of the year when this 

 happened was, as they informed me, about a fortnight or three weeks after 

 Michaelmas; which makes me of opinion that they go down to the sea, or salt- 

 water, to prepare themselves for the work of propagating and producing their 

 young. To this 1 must add another observation of the same nature, that was 

 made by a gentleman of fortune not far from Ludlow, and in the commission of 

 the peace for the county of Salop; who going to visit a gentleman, his friend, 

 was shewn a very fine large Eel that was going to be dressed, about whose sides 

 and belly he observed a parcel of little creeping things, which at first made him 

 suspert it had been kept too long; but, upon nearer inspection, they were found 

 to he perfect little Eels, or Elvers : upon this it was immediately opened in the 

 sight of several other gentlemen, and iu the belly of it they found a lump about 

 as big as a nutmeg, consisting of an infinite number of those little creatures, 

 closely wrapt up together, which, being put into a bason of water, soon separa- 

 ted, and swam about the bason. This lie has often told to several gentlemen of 



