— 210 — 



begin to appear here at the end of July; most come in August and the run ceases in 

 the beginning of September. — In order to determine the number of the elvers ascending 

 here a fishing-apparatus was placed in 1904 under one of the water-channels, which lie 

 over the loose belt of gravel through which the elvers must pass. In the first 3 weeks 

 of August about 70,000 specimens were taken. These belonged to 2 groups; in the ist 

 lot (or year's group) were specimens of lOO — 170 mm. up to 260 mm. in length, in the 

 2nd year's group of 260—450 mm. in length; they seemed to come up in great crowds 

 through the Glommen on several days . . ." 



Denmark. The first to make a careful investigation of this subject was Ch. 

 Drewsen^, who for several years observed the ascent at StrandmöUen on the Sound. 

 He writes thus: "usually the eels begin to come from the beach into the upper stream 

 in the beginning of May at the same time as the perch go up to spawn and the ascent 

 continues 14 days to 3 weeks. It is only when the sea is calm and the water-wheel at 

 a standstill that one can see them; they are 3 to 4 inches long, in thickness like a sail 

 string and so transparent that the vertebral column and the blood-vessels can be clearly 

 seen. This transparency gives the water a milky appearance though some are darker; 

 they are all of the same size, only a few amongst them being twice as large." 



H. Kr0yer in his well-known work "Danmarks Fiske" (III. p. 635, 1846—53) men- 

 tions several of his own observations on the young eels on the Danish coasts and nar- 

 rates, that in the beginning of June 1834 he saw them move in from the sea into Grenaa 

 harbour. "They went in so close together that at some places they gave the water at 

 the entrance to the harbour a turbid, milky appearance." Kr0yer writes further: "at 

 the mouth of a small stream which runs into the Kattegat, but the opening of which is 

 almost stopped up with sand and only has a depth of a few inches, I found the eel-fry 

 of two to three inches in length in the beginning of May 1836 in such masses buried in 

 the sand, that every handful of sand taken from the bottom of the. stream contained 

 several of these small fish. The weather was unusually cold for the period of the year, 

 stormy, sea-winds, showers and frost at nights" ... "I imagine, that these tiny fish 

 waited — at a place where they found both security and food — for quieter and milder 

 weather in order to continue their ascent further up." Kr0yer has seen the ascent of the 

 elvers at others places also, and similar observations have since then been made on 

 many occasions almost everywhere in Denmark, wherever special attention has been paid 

 to the matter. I need not refer to all the many references from older times, but may 

 mention some notes of A. Feddersen who has interested himself a good deal in the 

 question. He says (Fiskeritidende, No. 49 — 51, 1891): "on close observation the ascent 

 of the elvers will be noticed in all our outlets. The eel-fry are found on the coast very 

 early in the year, about from April— May, sometimes a little later, and they will then be 

 seen gradually making their way up the streams, until they disappear in the lakes, bogs 

 and ditches etc." On another occasion ("Fortsatte Aaleundersagelser", I, Kjobenhavn, 1894) 

 the same author writes: "at one place the tiny elvers were in 1894 already observed on 

 our coast on April 8th; but elsewhere along the coasts the ascent when at its greatest 

 seems to have been from April 24th (Sound) to the middle and end of May." 



With respect to the Jutland North Sea coast, I am able to give the following information 

 kindly given me by Dr. A. C. Joh.\nsen who has investigated the conditions: "I believe, 



I Ch. Drewskn, Om de iinge Aals Vandringer (Naliirhist. Tidskrift, I, 1837, p. 21 IT.) 



