— 200 — 



■'angulas", (2) a fishery for the young elvers is carried on at Santander, (3) these begin 

 to ascend the rivers in October or September and continue to do so till April or May." 



These interesting notices from Spain show therefore, that the elvers are the objects 

 of a fishery and that they begin to ascend the rivers flowing into the Bay of Biscay very 

 early in the year, namely in October or even in September. According to the 

 information from Santander biological station the phenomenon seems to continue there 

 just at long as in France (cf. Vaillant 1. c), viz. to April or May. 



The elvers ascending into the freshwater are likewise used as food at certain other 

 places in West Europe, in England for example and especially in the southwestern 

 parts. Several accounts are witness to this. Thus, Day states in his well-known work 

 on British Fishes (II, p. 242) on the authority of Buckland that a great ascent of elvers 

 takes place in the Parret river which runs into the Bristol Channel (in Somerset). The 

 following description is given of this ascent: "they pass up the Parret with the tides of 

 March, April and May; a few (the fishermen tell me) ascend in February and those by 

 June are about 3 or 4 inches long. They come in a continual shoal, about 18 inches 

 wide, without cessation, for some days, always against the stream and close to the left 

 bank. The women catch them at night by means of a canvas bag, attached to a hoop, 

 at the end of a long stick to which a lantern is fixed. They are thrown into a tub of 

 salt which cleanses them ; they are then boiled, and pressed into cakes, which are cut 

 into slices and fried, making most delicious food. Sometimes they are so abundant that 

 the people about get tired of eating them and actually feed the pigs with them." 



That the elvers are also taken in great quantities and used as food at other places 

 in south-west England is described for example by J. Couch ', who states that "on one 

 occasion there were for sale in the market at Exeter two cartloads of them, so small as 

 not to exceed the size of a stocking-needle, and each load weighing four hundredweights. 

 These were already prepared for the table, and were dispensed to customers at fourpence 

 the pound." 



On the Severn river, which opens into the Bristol Channel (in Gloucester, S. W. 

 England), an extensive fishery of the ascending elvers has been carried on from times 

 immemorial, of which Yarrell^ says: "when the Elvers appear in the Severn, they are 

 taken in great quantities with sieves of haircloth or even with a common basket, and, 

 after being scoured and boiled, are offered for sale. They are either fried in cakes or 

 stewed, and are accounted very delicious." 



The clearest impression of the extent of the fishery for the elvers and on the 

 whole of the quantities of the ascending elvers in south-west England is not however 

 obtained from the more or less chance descriptions of the scientists. It has happened 

 there as in France and as it so often happens where the economic interests of the people 

 play a part in the fisheries conditions, namely, that disagreement as to the expediency 

 or rights of one or another fishery has led to an investigation from the official side, by 

 means of which numerous details of evidence have been systematically collected. This 

 evidence, an extract from which I cite below, gives in several regards a more complete 

 and instructive account of the phenomenon than the isolated observations of naturalists. 



From the "Report by the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries, on the Provisions of the 



' J. Couch, Fishes of the Biitish Islands, vol. IV, 1865, p. 315. 

 = Yarrell, British Fishes, vol.11, 1836, p. 292. 



