EEL. 

 AnguiUa Tenuirostris. 



STRANGE so lowly a thing should have 

 so extraordinary a scientific name ! 



This water " sarpint " is hardly fair 

 game for so dainty and epicurean a hunter 

 as the angler ; but since Walt Whitman 

 has " done him up " with his " eel-spear " 

 in the form of " Great American " poetry, 

 we are not justified in excluding the Eel 

 from our list of fishes. 



Eels are practically taken with the eel- 

 pot, and by torch-light with the eel-spear, 

 or with set lines. 



They feed voraciously on all kinds of 

 animal matter, fresh or stale ; thrive equally 

 well in salt or fresh water ; surmount rapids 

 and rocks by serpentine crawling among 

 the crevices ; sometimes migrate by night 

 overland from stream to stream, or enter 



