42 FISH CULTURAL sASSOCIATION. 
further proceedings. She ascended the rivulet till she came to 
a sandy spot, where she stopped, and the young immediately left 
her and squirmed their way into the sand out of sight. After 
they had disappeared she dragged stones over the spot, using 
her mouth for the purpose, till it was entirely covered. Then 
she left it, and my informant immediately proceeded to dig it 
up and remove the young eels, which he found there as he ex- 
pected. The most remarkable fact, however, was that he was 
positive that a large proportion of these young were common eels, 
he assuring me that he could distinguish the difference in the 
mouths perfectly. In this he may have been mistaken; but, 
from his description the parent must have been a lamprey, and 
it may be that the lamprey alone is viviporous' He also said, 
what I already knew and had stated, that the color of eels is 
no indication of their sex, but is determined by the nature of the 
bottom and water where they live. Eels that remain in fresh water 
become golden yellow on the abdomen, while those that live on 
a sandy bottom in a salt tideway are so light-colored as to be 
designated “silver eels.” This is important to those investi- 
gators who would distinguish the sexes by their color. 
I should give little weight to these statements were I not 
aware how close an observer of the habits of wild creatures my 
informant was. His opinions are further endorsed by the 
strong assertions contained in the following letter, which I have 
lately received from Mr, Wells, the gentleman already referred 
to as having raised eels in a pond on Long Island: 
“RIVERHEAD, N.Y .,. Jan. 27,9370) 
“ Dear Sir: Yours of 18th received. In reply I state the fok 
lowing facts: My pond has no outlet commonly, but sometimes, 
in very high springs, the water runs to the river some quarter 
of a mile through the woods in the valley. ,The distance is 
about two miles to Riverhead, the head of the bay or salt water. 
My pond is supplied by the springs the same as a well, and when 
the springs are low in the well they are the same in the pond. 
As to the eels spawning, I can say I have seen the young just 
spawned. I have put the mature ones in a barrel at night, and 
in the morning there were numbers of young eels about as 
/ 
