Young of Salmon and Migration of Eels. 307 



Sir H. Davy had never been able to discover any symptoms of genera- 

 tion, either in the external organs of this fish, or in roe, or milt, or young 

 within the parent, and he says, " that the problem of their generation is 

 the most abstruse, and one of the most curious in natural history, and 

 though it occupied the attention of Aristotle, and has been since taken up 

 by the most distinguished naturalists since his time, it is still unsolved, 

 though I trust it will not long remain so." 



My own observations on this mysterious subject incline me rather to 

 concur with Sir Humphry Davy, for, however they may be produced, the 

 stock supplied by these migrations of young is ample for all the rivers, and 

 lakes, and ponds, in the world, and I have never met with any fisherman who 

 could declare that he had ever seen or heard of any appearance or symptom 

 of generation in the fresh water eel. It is also equally certain that large 

 eels return to the sea in autumn. 



I have been informed, by unquestionable authority, that at the falls of 

 the Bann, in Ireland, a vast number of large eels are taken in nets every 

 autumn, on their descent to the sea, and, being salted, form the principal 

 subsistence of the neighbouring inhabitants during winter. So valuable do 

 they consider this supply that, in the spring, they construct wicker fascicles, 

 to facilitate the ascent of the young eels up the falls in their vernal migra- 

 tion from the sea. Mr. Thornhill, who possesses a good deal of the river 

 Avon (famous for its eels), told me that in the autumn all the large eels 

 were taken in pots, having their mouths turned up the stream, and contra- 

 riwise in the spring. The river Aln, in this county, is replete with eels all 

 the summer, and the vernal migration of the young eels from the sea up- 

 wards, is noticed every year. At Eslington, where the Aln is a mere 

 brook, we kill eels two pounds in weight, but I have long observed that 

 this fish is scai'ce in the early spring, and late in the autumn, whereas they 

 are extremely plentiful during the whole summer. These facts are con- 

 firmatory of the double migration. Besides, if these fish were bred in 

 ponds or lakes, it is difficult to perceive the purport or use of these migra- 

 tions, and it appears desirable to obtain some further investigation of the 

 fact recorded by Mr. Jesse, before we can permit it to militate against an 

 hypothesis, founded on other facts which are indisputable. If this notice 



