ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 25 



the well and lifted the stones both were 

 there, the same in colour, healthy and large. 

 They had grown three-sixteenths thicker 

 and two-and-a-half inches longer during the 

 year, making them now three-eighths thick 

 and eight and a half long. This one in- 

 stance may not be sufficient to form a rule 

 as regards the growth of the eel in general, 

 knowing that variety prevails in the growth 

 of all animals, but I once caught an eel 

 which, from its appearance I believed to be 

 six years old ; on measuring it, I found it to 

 be three and three-eighths inches in girth, 

 that is, one and one eighth inch in diameter, 

 and eighteen and a half inches in length. 

 Now this agrees with the facts above stated. 

 On this, I would not, however, insist. 



The next fact I felt anxious to ascertain 

 was the length of time it required the hair- 

 eel to pass into the form we behold it in our 

 rivers. In May, 1842, a beetle visited one 

 of my wells, and produced one eel. For 

 this one I had a glass tube prepared about 

 one foot long, and three inches in diameter, 

 open at both ends, being simply covered by 

 very fine wire cloth. I placed the eel in 



