120 FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
which do not migrate, but which remain through the whole year 
feeding in the lagoons. They include, however, under this 
name, eels of two kinds—the sterile females already described, 
and the eels which are not yet ripe, as well as the normal females 
and supposed males, whose period of migration is somewhat 
remote. This circumstance is a cause of much difficulty to the 
investigator.* | 
“The studies on the second point to be solved were of special 
interest, viz., the determination of the presence and the behavior 
of eels with organs of Syrski, at Comacchio. I can answer this 
question very briefly, since among 1,200 specimens examined by 
me at the fishing stations and at the so-called eel-factories (with 
the exception of the largest specimens, which are always 
females), I found on an average of five per cent. with the organ 
of Syrski; of the eels under 15 inches in length (45 centimeters) 
on an average there were 20 per cent., so that the conclusions as 
to their abundance were very similar to those at Trieste, where 
the fish market is supplied, for the greater part, with eels from 
Chioggia, and to a less extent with those from Comacchio. 
“In Comacchio the largest eels with the organ of Syrski, which 
I have observed, were about 17 inches (48 centimeters) in length, 
the smallest about 9 inches (24 centimeters). All of these were 
found among the eels taken during their migration to the sea, 
and, like the females, were found with stomachs completely 
empty or slightly filled with a slimy substance. It was impossi- 
ble to find in any specimen a more advanced development of the 
Syrskian organ than in those examined in summer at Trieste. 
“With reference to the third question undertaken by me, 
which relates to the actual kernel of the eel question, that is, the 
possibility of obtaining the eels which have migrated out to sea, 
* It has been noticed by many early writers that there are certain eels which never come to 
the sea—Risso. in his ‘* Histoire Naturelle,” tome 3, p. 198, and S. Nilsson, in his ‘‘ Scandina- 
visk Fauna,’’ tome 4, p. 663. The latter called this variety ‘‘ Grasaal,’’ or grass-eel, and spoke 
of its yellowish-green coloration and the soft, delicious flesh. Strange enough, both these 
writers spoke of the sharper snout of this eel, and Risso, who founded upon it another species, 
Anguilla acutirostris, described it as brackish above and silvery below. These descriptions 
apply in every particnlar to the non-migratory eel at Comacchio. Jacoby remarks that all the 
sterile females brought to him under the name ‘ Pasciuti,’’ were distinguished by their broad 
snouts. The following tables were prepared at Comacchio. 4 gives the total length of the 
body of the eel; 4, the breadth of the snout between the nasal tubes, in millimeters. 
