23,2 Hem: Philippine Eels 131 



oped pectorals, lying below and just in front of these; nostrils 

 superior, well separated, the anterior with a small tube; origin 

 of dorsal some distance from head, vertical fins confluent with 

 caudal; vent just before anal. 



Perhaps fifty species of Anguilla have been described, most 

 of them based upon individual differences due to age or sex, 

 and it is probable that the number now recognized may be still 

 further reduced. Until the fresh-water eels of the world are 

 monographed by some one having before him a complete series 

 of specimens in all stages of growth, we may safely admit as 

 valid one European, one North American, one Japanese, and 

 five or six Indo-Pacific species, eight or nine in all. 



The Indo-Pacific species of Anguilla are the best defined of 

 the genus and attain by far the largest size. These gigantic 

 eels play an important part in the mythology of some of the 

 Polynesians, as the Samoans and Maoris, and among the Mala- 

 yans, as the people of Celebes and the hill people of Mindanao 

 and northern Luzon. Among the Lepanto Igorots the eel cult 

 is well developed. Near the town of Kagubatan at the foot 

 of the sacred mountain Mugao, are several small lakes or ponds 

 in which are many large sacred eels. The fish are fed every day 

 with rice and sweet potatoes brought by children of the neighbor- 

 hood, who sing a song which acts as a signal for the eels to 

 come and be fed. In this song they ask the eels to take the 

 food, to bestow good health upon the givers, and to protect them 

 from sickness. The people say "our fathers had these eels" 

 and "it would be death to the person injuring one," while the 

 springs would dry up and there would be no water for the rice 

 terraces. Another aspect of their relations to man is given in 

 the charming little fairy tale "Talia" of northern Benguet, 

 translated by Prof. Otto Scheerer. 3 



Superstitions concerning eels are widespread among the 

 Christian Filipinos. They say the eel contains a magical stone, 

 or mutya, which gives the possessor the power to escape from 

 any knots or fastenings. This is evidently a form of the wide- 

 spread belief in the bezoar stone, but in this case the slippery 

 agility of the eel is transferred to the owner of the mutya. Such 

 Filipino names as talunasan refer to the slippermess of the 

 eel. Some people also believe that if eels are eaten when one 

 is recovering from an illness the disease will attack him again 

 with the utmost severity, and death will be almost sure to follow. 

 ' Philip. Journ. Education 2 (1920) 193-202. 



