98 fish Cultural Association. 
I cannot say that I have solved the doubts and ques- 
tions which are here raised, but I think | have gone a step 
towards it in showing that the spawn of eels, when mature 
and extruded, must be sought for in fresh, not im salt- 
water. 
In response to. a .questiom of ithe, President, Hrotessar 
Baird said: We have within six weeks received eels with 
ripe ovaries. I will say without hesitation that we have eels 
with ovaries extended and eggs nearly ready to be dis- 
charged—not hatched, but showing the eggs separate from 
the ovaries. 
THE PRESIDENT: Did you find any males? 
Proressor Barrp: No. 2 
THe Presipent: Did you find anything to lead you to 
suppose that they were hermaphrodite in their character ? 
PROFESSOR BatrD: No; that was the theory of the Ital- 
ians, but that theory is exploded. 
Mr. Hewitt: I have heard with great interest this subject 
of eels. In Pennsylvania we have never, as far as I know, 
discovered eels of the size you speak of in the headwaters of 
the Juniata or the Susquehanna. It is stated somewhere that 
it took 2,000 years in conflict of opinion to discover the 
ovary of the eel, and that is confirmed, in my opinion, by 
what Professor Baird has said. 
PROFESSOR BairD: There is no doubt but that there are 
males and females—ovaries and spermatazoa. 
PROFESSOR GOODE said that in Connecticut he had _ fre- 
quently found young eels, not more than an inch or two 
inches in length, along the shelly banks of the shore at low 
tide. These were quite immature. They were taken in the 
net when the net was full of the thrown-up seaweed. They 
