96 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
veloped outside of the body. Even now the breeding habits are un- 
known, but it is supposed that spawning takes place late in the fall, or 
during the winter near the mouths of rivers on muddy bottoms. Dr. 
Jordan has expressed the belief that the eel sometimes breeds in fresh 
water, since he has found young eels less than an inch long in the head- 
waters of the Alabama river about five hundred miles from the sea. It 
is estimated that a large eel contains about nine million eggs. The 
ege’s are very small, measuring about eighty to the inch, and can scarcely 
be seen by the naked eye. The ovary of an eel containing this. number 
of eggs was nearly a foot in length and about one-half an inch in greatest 
diameter. When the eels meet obstructions in streams they will leave 
the water and travel through wet grass or over moist rocks. They have 
not been able to surmount the falls of Niagara. At the foot of this bar- 
rier hundreds of wagon loads of young eels have been seen crawling 
over the rocks in their efforts to reach the upper waters. For the sake 
of completing the record of the habits of the eel I quote from W. H. 
Ballou’s description: “They are among the most voracious of carniv- 
orous fishes. They eat most inland fishes except the gar and the chub. 
* * * They are particularly fond of game fishes, and show the deli- 
cate taste of a connoisseur in their selections from choice trout, bass, 
pickerel andshad. * * * On their hunting excursions they overturn 
huge and small stones alike, working for hours if necessary, beneath 
which they find species of shrimp and cray fish, of which they are ex- 
ceedingly fond. * * * They areamong the most powerful and rapid 
of swimmers. * * * They attack the spawn of other fishes open 
mouthed, and are even said to suck the eggs from an impaled female. 
They are owl-like in their habits, committing their depredations at 
night.” 
The difference of size in the sexes has already been referred to. Ac- 
cording to one writer the males are much smaller than the females, 
rarely exceeding fifteen or sixteen inches in length. The question 
whether eels will breed in fresh water has an important bearing upon 
their introduction into places from which they cannot reach the sea. 
The generally accepted belief is that while the eels will grow large and 
fat they will not reproduce under such circumstances. The male eel 
has only rarely been recognized on the American coast. Ihad the good 
fortune to collect five examples on Long Island in the fall of 1884, and 
several specimens have been taken at Woods Holl, Mass. One of these 
latter specimens and several of those collected by myself were studied | 
by Prof. John A. Ryder, of the University of Pennsylvania, and found to 
contain the male organs so well developed as to leave no doubt concern- 
ing the sex of the individuals. These eels, which were known to the fish- 
ermen as silver eels, have remarkably large eyes, short snout, and long 
pectoral fins when compared with the common form. 
