TIIK BROAD-NOSED EEL. 225 



which projected from the aperture of the pipe, was caught by a man in 

 his teeth, and the fish was thus extracted. 



The following story of an eel carrying off a knife and purse, though it 

 occurred nearly two centuries ago, is still told by old people in the vicinity 

 of Lough Corrib : — 



" From hence (the river of Cong) an eele carried a purse of 13s. 4d. sterling, 

 and a knife, for about IG miles, thro' Lough Orbsen, till it was catched on the 

 river of Galway, wliich thus happened. One William M'Ghoill, a fisherman at 

 Cong, lighted on a good eele, and, being busie about catching more, thrust his 

 girdle through its guill, which had the purse and knife in it : the eele by chance 

 slides into the river with the purse and knife." — 0' Flaherty' s West or Il-Jar 

 Connaughf, i. p. 49, written in 1684. Published by the Irish Archa;ol. Society 

 in 1846.* 



Straiififord Ed. — I am disposed to consider this eel as distinct from 

 the three British. I have been always of this opinion, formed at first from 

 the localities (just those of spotted blcnny) being difi'erent. It was on 

 hard gravelly and sandy places that I found both specimens. 



1st specimen. — Length, 7^^ inches. 



D. begins 2^^ in. from snout (2^ in. 1\). Vent. 3 in. 2 lines from 

 extremity of lower jaw, nearly ^ of the entire length before the P. (11 

 lines before to To behind P.) ; gape not extending so far as to be on a 

 vertical line with the middle of the eye. Snout short and rounded. 

 " Distance from the eye to the end of the snout equalling full twice the 

 diameter of the former." 



Snout shorter than that of A. andirosfris ; that of A. medinrostris 

 (which this approaches most nearly of the thi'ee British species) is said to 

 be longer. 



Sejd. 16, 1835. — I obtained from under a stone at Donaghadee an eel 

 same as the Strangford species. 



The Broad-nosed Eel, An(juilla latirostris, Yarrell, 



Inhabits the waters of Ireland, Loughs Neagh and Erne, the river Shan- 

 non, &c. 



Specimens from the South have not come under my notice, but there 

 can be little doubt of its being found there. 



"When at Toome (County Antrim) in Sept., 1834, a kind of eel was described 

 to me as very different from the species {A. acutirostris) taken there in such abund- 

 ance when entering the river Bann in autumn, on their passage from Lough 

 Neagh to the sea. It was called ' CuUocli, or hunter-eel,' and was stated to differ 

 much in appearance and voracity from that species. A very intelligent fisher- 

 man at another part of the lake, distinguishing it by the name of ' Gorb-eel,' bore 

 testimony to its voracious propensity. f He believes it to live chiefly on pollans 

 ( Coref/ojius Polla7i), from the circumstance of having frequently known it to destroy 

 these fishes when in the nets : the nets also being injured by them. He considers 

 this species to be stationary in the lake, where it is sought for during summer 

 with night lines, generally baited with very large worms or small perch : about 

 5 lbs. is the greatest weight he has known it to attain. 



" In Belfast market I subsequently saw quantities of this eel from the above 

 locality, when they proved to be the A. latirostris. On pointing them out to an 

 angling friend, I was assured that he had seen similar eels from Lough Erne on 

 sale in Enniskillen. A correspondent writing from Portumna, in allusion it is 



* Dr. Ball obtained some years since, from the Rev. Chai'les Mayne, an eel 

 of a uniform light yellow ; it was taken at Killaloe : the colour was something 

 like that of a well-bred ferret. 



t Hence probably the name " Glut Eel," by which it was known to Pennant. 



Q 



