38 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 



or eel-form being its intestines, and in these 

 intestines lies the germ of the eel in all its 

 parts. The one nature progresses in growth 

 with the other, the nourishing process being 

 mutual. When the beetle has finished the 

 propagation of the species, then the germ of 

 the eel begins to come forward, and the 

 insect is instinctively urged towards water. 

 Here the eel is deposited in a half viviparous 

 state, that is with life but not perfect, where 

 through the action of water for seven months 

 what could not be attained in the beetle is 

 completed. This is the same period that the 

 salmon roe requires to come up a living fish. 

 I believe from what I have seen in the 

 growth of the beetle, that it is three years 

 old before it begins to breed, and continues 

 to breed four years before it stops, which 

 gives seven years as the period the eel and 

 the beetle remain together before separation. 

 When seven months are added to this period, 

 for its stay in the water, during the whole 

 of which time its growth is being perfected, 

 we cease to wonder at the eel's tenacity of 

 life. From all I know and have seen, there 

 could not be a more likely progenitor for 



