CATFISH AND EELS. 187 



organs plainly. They collect at the head of tidewaters in 

 great numbers, endeavoring to surmount falls or rapids, and 

 many perish in the attempt or are devoured by fish. They 

 may be taken, in such places, with a small scoop-net made 

 of sea-grass skirting, or other open fabric, and used with 

 great effect as bait for Perch and small Rockfish. 



I have seen no less than a barrel of these silvery, trans- 

 parent little animals congregated in a pool at low tide, below 

 the western angle of the dam at Fairmount, waiting to renew 

 their efforts to get over the fall at high water ; and any little 

 boy will go in and dip up a quart of them for the asking, or 

 for a half dime. 



In the fall they descend our rivers and are taken in weirs, 

 traps, and eel-pots in immense numbers ; in the Susquehanna 

 a single weir sometimes produces two barrels of Eels in a 

 night. They are speared at night in the upper Delaware ; 

 the reflection from the torch giving them a white, glaring 

 appearance. 



I used to bob for them from a boat, when a boy. Imagine 

 three or four urchins, barefooted, with trousers rolled up to 

 their knees, and occasionally a cold slimy Eel of larger size 

 than common, gliding over their feet or around their ankles. 

 There was some screaming and laughing on such occasions, 

 which did not accord with the general idea of a fishing-party ; 

 and there was also some scraping of dry slime from jackets 

 and trousers next morning. 



Eels are speared in winter, on the salt flats along our coast, 

 at low water ; the harpooner judges by certain indications 

 what hole to drive his implement into, without seeing 

 them, and draws it out with the impaled Eels writhing and 

 squirming. 



These fish are not viviparous or hermaphrodites, as some 

 suppose, but the spawn is impregnated by the male after 



