228 MAI.ACOPTERYQII. 



known them to destroy £3 worth of net in a night ; he has got seven 

 or eight hooks in one of them ; they can bite through rope as thick as his 

 finger. I have seen large quantities brought ashore by fishermen in 

 summer and autumn, at various parts of the Down coast, all of which 

 were taken on hook and line. They do not sell in Belfast market, but 

 Mr. Meenan gets more for them by weight in Liverpool than for cod-fish 

 and haddock. — April, LSoO. 



Mr. M. tells me that there is a kind of dark-coloured conger eel, which 

 frequents rocky ground, and does not average more than half the weight 

 of those taken in soft ground. I questioned him particularly about it, 

 and found it to be in every respect analogous to rock cod. 



A fisherman at Larne Lough states that these eels destroy the mullet 

 caught in his nets so much that he sets lines outside his net for them, 

 baited with what he calls "Avhite bait." He has the double object of 

 catching the eels and protecting the muUet. He dries and salts the eels 

 like ling for his own use, with the difi"erence of skinning the eels ; the 

 skins are all preserved, they are used for the hanging of flails, &c. 



Kobert Langtry, Esq., informs me that he once cut the head off a 

 conger, and holding the severed head in his hand his servant set about 

 taking the hook out of its mouth, when the teeth closed on his thumb, 

 as if in life, and bit him desperately. It was only by cutting the jaws to 

 pieces that the thumb was liberated.* 



Mr. Templeton's note on this species is as follows : — 



" Common. — Several years ago a vessel was wrecked on the coast of Rathlin, 

 laden with salt herrings. The congers ate voraciously of the salt fish, and great 

 numbers died and were washed on shore after this unlucky feast, for several 

 days." — Templeton's Catalogue. 



The conger eels in the neighbourhood of Cork suffered from the effects 

 of cold in the early part of the year 1841, about the same time that a 

 mortality prevailed among the sharp-nosed eels at Belfast, as mentioned 

 Avhen treating of that species. The facts relating to the conger were com- 

 municated to me by Francis M. Jennings, Esq., of Cork, in a letter dated 

 18 March, 1841, and published in the Annals of Nat. Hist., vol. vii. p. 236. 

 From this letter the following extract is made : — • 



" During the 5th, 6th, and 7tli of February, the ground being covered with 

 snow and the weather intensely cold, the boatmen in the vicinity of Passage, 

 Monkstown, and Carrigaloe, captured considerable numbers of the conger eel 

 {Anguilla conger, Linn.) of all sizes, varying from a foot to five and six feet in 

 length. Many of them were left on the strand as the tide receded, some dead, 

 but the greater number alive ; others were followed in boats as they swam near 

 the surface of the water, and killed with sticks, whilst many committed suicide 

 by swimming up on the strand. In a similar way they were caught from Hop 

 Island to Ringaskiddy, a distance of five miles on the west side of the Lee, and 

 from Smith Barry's Bay to the Limekiln opposite Monkstown , (about three 

 miles) on the east side. Those which were taken on Hop Island seem to have 

 been washed up by the tide, as they were dead. 



" It appears strange that a fish like the eel, usually found at the bottom of the 



* Mr. R. Patterson was witness, many years ago, at Holywood, to a similar 

 occurrence. Two fishermen had brought the produce of their long-line fishing 

 to the shore ; among their captures was a large conger eel, ofl' which they 

 chopped the head, left it lying on the beach, and departed ; a little bare-footed 

 boy strolling along soon afterwards began " poking " his toes into the mouth of 

 the eel. To his amazement the jaws closed on his foot, and held him fast until 

 his cries brought the neighbours to his assistance. 



