246 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



this is the exception to the rule. The Eels may, in general 

 terms, he described as making a migration to the sea in the 

 autumn of the year, for the purpose of spawning. It is at 

 this time that they are taken in the largest quantities for the 

 table. In the north of Ireland, one great place for their cap- 

 ture is Toome, on the Lower Bann, a river connecting Lough 

 Neagh with the sea. The fishermen there assert that the 

 Eels (Anguilla acutirostris) avoid the moon-light, and that 

 " a rim" of fish takes place only when the night is dark, and 

 that even a flash of lightning will stop their progress. We are 

 informed by Mr. Finiston, of Toome, that he has " completely 

 stopped their progress, by placing three large lamps, so that 

 the rays of light fell on the surface of the water, directly over 

 the entrance to the net."* 1 A " run," as it is termed, occurs 

 only two or three nights in the season, but the quantity then 

 taken is very considerable. So many as 45,000 small Eels 

 have been taken in one night ; and there are generally about 

 sixty middle-sized Eels and ten large to each thousand of 

 small. They are taken in nets, which may be compared in 

 shape to sugar-loaves with the tops cut off, each from four- 

 teen to sixteen yards long, and placed between weirs. At an 

 early period of the summer it is an interesting sight, at the 

 Cutts, near Coleraine, on the same river, to mark the thou- 

 sands of young Eels there ascending the stream. Hay ropes 

 are suspended over the rocky parts to aid them in overcoming 

 such obstructions. At such places the river is black with 

 the multitudes of young Eels, about three or four inches long, 

 all acting under that mysterious impulse that prompts them 

 to push their course onwards to the lake. " There is no 

 doubt that Eels occasionally quit the water, and, when grass 

 meadows are wet from dew or other causes, travel during 

 the night over the moist surface in search of Frogs and other 

 suitable food, or to change their situation." 



Eels have been known to be frozen and again revive, yet 

 they seem in other ways very susceptible of cold. They are 

 not found in the arctic regions nor in the rivers of Siberia. 

 In our latitudes they take shelter from the inclemency of the 

 winter by burying themselves in the mud. But this does 

 not always protect them. In February, 1841, during a hard 

 frost, large quantities of dead Eels, of the common sharp-nosed 



* The family of this gentleman were for many years the lessees of the 

 fishery at Toome. 



