— 2o6 — 



3 inches long, that pass up the Thames in the spring, from the circumstance that it was 

 calculated by two observers of the progress of the young Eete at Kingston in 1832 that 

 from 16 to 18 hundreds passed a given point in the space of one minute of time." Other 

 places in Great Britain where the ascent has been observed are for example, Norwich' 

 (Norfolk, East England), Fowey (Cornwall) 2, Forth 3 and other places in Scotland, Bal- 

 lyshannon+ and Bann in Ireland etc. 5. 



The Director of the Scottish portion of the international investigations. Prof. D'arcy 

 W. Thompson in Dundee, has further sent me the following reports from various rivers 

 in Scotland. 



(1) Mr. Malloch of Perth, the well-known authority on salmon fishing writes me as 

 follows : "the eel-fry begin to run up the Tay on the ist of May and increase in numbers 

 until about the 15th after which they fall off and by the end of the month they are all 

 gone. There is a continual stream of them along each side of the river three or four 

 yards broad. In a calm day the motion of them swinging along the surface is like wind 

 ruffling the surface. They push up all the side rivers and get into almost all our Lochs 

 and surmount high falls. Many of them remain in all parts of the river and grow very 

 fast; the migration of the large ones takes place in October." 



(2) From Mr. George Sim, Aberdeen: "The first time I observed the ascent of young 

 eels was in June 1847. This was in the river Deveron, Banffshire. They continued to 

 stream up the side of the river for several days ; at first in a close column of from 15 

 to 18 inches broad. Individually they were from 4 to 6 inches long. Since then I have 

 seen the same in various streams along the east coast of Scotland, the time varying from 

 the end of May till the middle of July. On the 6th of the latter month in 1895 I saw 

 large numbers making their way up the river Muick, Kincardinshire. Their length being 

 from 6 to 10 inches long." 



(3) Professor J. Arhur Thomson, Aberdeen University, observed large numbers of 

 eels ascending the Dee on May 14th 1903. 



(4) Statistical Account of Scotland 1795, parish of Peterculter (on the river Dee about 

 eight miles from Aberdeen). By the Rev. George Mark: "Eels — A great number of 

 eels of the common species, make an annual procession up the river Dee. 



The time of their appearing varies according to the nature of the season and the 

 state of the water. It is seldom earlier than the middle of May, nor later than the 

 middle of June. About 15 years ago (1779) when I first observed them they came in 

 the first week of June; there was then some flood in the river, and the eels kept near 

 to the bank, and near the surface of the water. They proceeded in regular rows, close 

 to each other, and 7 eels in a row. They continued running three days. They were 

 most numerous the first day. They were 9 inches long and 3/^ of an inch round. 



This year (1794) the season being mild and the river low, the eels made their 



1 W. Arderon, (Transaction of the Royal Society, vol. XLIV, Part II for the year 1747, p. 395, London, 

 1748. Ascent observed on June izth, 1746. 



2 Couch, Fishes Brit. Islands, vol. IV, p. 315, 1865. 



3 Parnell, Fishes of the Forth, 1837. 



4 D.WY, Salmonia, 2nd edition, London, 1829, p. 228, where an ascent in the River Ballyshannon in July 

 is described. The water was here quite black with millions of small eel-fry. 



5 See further the section on elvers as food (p. 197) and the explanation to the Chart, Plate XII. 



