396 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



tice there, when Conger-fishing at night, for the angler to 

 tie the line to his arm ; and a case recently happened where 

 an eel so powerful was thus hooked, that if the man had 

 not had the presence of mind instantly to cut the cord, he 

 must have been drawn into the sea. 



A curious account of a disease which attacked the Eels 

 and Pike of the river Barrow appeared in a number of the 

 Leinster Express : " During the present season both Eels 

 and Pike have been frequently found in a dying state on 

 che surface of the water. The Pike seem emaciated, and 

 the inside of the mouth presents a fungous ulceration 

 covering the teeth, palate, and tongue ; and when the body 

 is opened, the stomach is filled with a green slimy sub* 

 stance. Eels are seen with little apparent life for a day or 

 so, and afterwards dead in shoal water (the place where all 

 wounded or sick fish swim to) ; the under part of the body 

 from the mouth to the tail is speckled with blood-red spots, 

 and the mouth is sometimes full of coagulated blood. How- 

 ever, the fish does not seem to be in bad condition, or to 

 have suffered so long as the Pike ; the same kinds of fish 

 in the canal about Monaster-Evan have also suffered from 

 the same malady." 



Principal Characteristics of the Sharp-nosed Eel. In a specimen 22 

 inches in length, three measurements taken from the extremity of the 

 lower jaw are, compared to the whole length of the fish, as follows : 

 to upper part of base of pectoral fin as 2 to 17, to origin of back-fin as 

 2 to 7, and to origin of anal fin as 9 to 22. In a Sharp-nosed Eel of 20 

 inches in length the pectoral fin will be almost 1 inch nearer the head 

 than the same part in a Broad-nosed Eel of similar length. Head 



