402 anguillim:. 



1. ANGUILLA VULGARIS. 



Murcena anguilla, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 426 (1766). 



Anguilla vulgaris, Turton, Brit. Faun. p. 87 (1807) ; Giinther, Petherick's Trav. ii. p. 266 (1869). 



Anguilla acutirostris, Risso, Hist. Nat. Eur. Mer. iii. p. 198 (1826) ; Riippell, N. Nachtr. Fische 



Nil, p. 26 (1835). 

 Anguilla latirostris, Risso, op. cit. p. 199 ; Giinther, 1. c, and Oat. Fish. viii. p. 32 (1870). 

 Taban, Rifaud, Voy. Egypte, pis. xviii. & cxcii. (1830). 

 Anguilla nilotica, Heckel, Russegger's Reise Egypt, iii. p. 313 (1849) ; Kaup, Cat. Apod. Fish. 



p. 40 (1856). 

 Anguilla asgyptiaca, Kaup, 1. c. 



The Eel of the Mediterranean, which is the same as that of the Atlantic coasts of 

 Europe and the rivers emptying into the Mediterranean and Atlantic, is too well 

 known to require description. I have therefore restricted myself to quoting the 

 authorities for the names bestowed on the Eel of Egypt, and giving a table of 

 measurements which will show the variation in the proportions to be quite as great as 

 in other parts of the world. Some have pointed snouts, others have blunt snouts, and 

 the size of the eye differs much even if specimens of the same size be compared. In 

 Egypt as elsewhere, specimens in their breeding-dress, so-called " Silver Eels," occur 

 in fresh, water before going to the sea ; they are distinguished by the absence of yellow 

 colour on the sides, which are silvery, the lower parts being of a pure white ; the 

 pectoral fin, which is more pointed, is more pigmented than in the " Yellow Eels," and 

 the eye is much larger. Measurements of such a specimen, taken in Lake Menzaleh 

 in June, are given in column 3 of the table. 



The sexes cannot be distinguished except by an inspection of the genital glands, 

 which are very elongate and have the appearance of frilled bands in the female and of 

 a row of rounded lobes in the males. But, from the investigations of Petersen and 

 others, it may be taken as an established fact that males do not exceed a length of 

 500 millimetres, whilst no female under 400 millimetres has ever been found to be 

 sexually mature. The Common Eel attains a length of over 1 metre, but the largest 

 Egyptian specimen examined by me measures only 690 millimetres. 



Male Eels are much scarcer than females, especially at a great distance from 

 the sea. 



Heckel has endeavoured to justify the separation of the Nile Eel from the European 

 species on the ground of its having a longer mouth with larger teeth, two characters 

 which are found to be equally variable when a large series, from any locality, is 

 available for comparison. As regards the Egyptian specimens, I may state that the 

 length of the mouth, whether three or four times in the length of the head to the 

 gill-opening, is an unreliable character; although the cleft of the mouth usually 



