CHAP. XIII.] THE FOURTH DAT. 245 



I might here speak of many other fish whose shape and 

 nature are much like the eel, and frequent both the sea and 



is sufficiently settled, as appears by the foregoing notes, there yet remains 

 a question undecided by naturalists, and that is, whether the eel be an 

 oviparous or a viviparous fish ? Walton inclines to the latter opinion. The 

 following relation from 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 she had ever found any spawn or eggs in those eels she opened ? 

 She said she had never observed any ; but that she had sometimes found 

 living eels in them, about the bigness of a small needle ; 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 them- 

 selves for the work of propagating and producing their young. To this I 

 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 shown 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 suspect it had been kept too long ; but, upon nearer inspection, 

 they were found to be perfect little eels or elvers. Upon this, it was 

 immediately opened, in the sight of several other gentlemen ; and in the 

 belly of it they found a lump about as big as a nutmeg, consisting of an 

 infinite number of those little creatures, closely wrapped up together, 

 which, being put into a basin of water, soon separated, and swam about the 

 basin. This he has often told to several gentlemen of credit in his neigh- 

 bourhood, from some of whom I first received this account ; but I have 

 lately had the satisfaction of having it from his own mouth ; and therefore 

 I think this may serve to put the matter out of all doubt, and may be 

 sufficient to prove that eels are of the viviparous kind." [Notwithstanding 

 this deliberate evidence, it is now generally agreed by naturalists, that 

 eels are oviparous. See note at page 236. Mr. Yarrell thinks that 

 the notion of their being viviparous probably arose from the worms, or 

 Entozoa, with which they are infested, and of which Rudolphi has 

 enumerated eight different species. ED.] 



Eels, though never out of season, are best in winter and worst in May. 

 And it is to be noted, that the longer they live the better they are. 



OF BAITS FOR THE EEL, the best are lob-worms, loach, minnows, small 

 pope, or perch, with the fins cut off ; pieces of any fish, especially bleak, as 

 being very lucid, with which I have taken very large ones. 



As the angling for eels is no very pleasant amusement, and is always 

 attended with great trouble and the risk of tackle ; many, while they angle 

 for other fish, lay lines for the eel, which they tie to weeds, flags, &c., 

 with marks to find them by. Or, you may take a long packthread line, 

 with a leaden weight at the end, and hooks looped on at a yard distance 



