EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. 43 
large as a No. 3 needle, perfectly white, with the perfect form of 
eels. Last spring Mr. William Downs, an old eeler, told me 
that finding small eels by the quart in his box while he was salt- 
ing the old ones, and never having seen anything of spawn in 
eels to know how the young came, he made up his mind to find 
out. He was skinning the eels, and did as others do, and saw 
nothing; he then began to examine the entrails; in cutting these 
open he found a small sack or bag, in which he saw the young 
sticking their heads out. He examined several eels until he 
was satisfied about one-half were she-ones, as about one-half 
had small eels in them, and the others none. I have got informa- 
tion from others to corroborate the above facts, but a man may 
dress eels his life time and not see one, because he does not 
look in the right place. They spawn or hatch the last of April 
or the first of May; they lay their young in springy places in 
the sand, or in the fresh water around the bays or creeks, and 
always find as fresh or brackish water as they can. They will 
spawn in a pond if there is any way for them to escape from 
being devoured by other fish or large eels. I could give you more 
proof of the above if I had space. Eels generally go into the mud 
when the weather becomes cold, but if there is a warm day or 
spell they move about. The common eels “mud,” or go under 
the meadows in holes, by thousands together in salt water. Eels 
start in spring as soon as the weather is warm, say the middle 
of March or first of April, according as the weather may 
be, and about the middle of April they come out of the meadow. 
You will not get any out of the mud unless by the spear. 
They bed anywhere that there is mud, in large bays, rivers, 
creeks, or ponds. My pond has a sandy bottom, and is sur- 
rounded by woods; the shore is sand and the mud begins 
some three to five rods from the shore. The water, which is 
clear, then deepens till it is some six feet deep in the middle. 
If you will come here next May or June I will show you the 
greatest sight you ever saw. The eels then come like a flock of 
young ducks to a pan of bran. You can throw them away with 
your hand and they will come right back. I don’t want any 
‘young eels in my pond, so I keep fish to eat them up. They 
spawn like a sow has pigs, which I will prove next May, for 
