782 FISHES — ANGUILLID.E. 



small, well lorward; anterior nostrils with a slight barbel ; pectorals abont half as long 

 as head, rounded ; color olive-brown, or yellowish, sometimes almost black, the color 

 extremely variable ; head ten in length. D. & A. 455 ; length two to four feet. 

 Habitat, throughout the Northern Temperate Zone, in bays, and ascending all streams. 



Diagnosis. — A person that does not know an eel at sight will not look to 

 this paper for information. 



Habits — In the State of Ohio the Eel is not a very common fish, al- 

 though there are few streams in the State in which they are not some- 

 times found. It is supposed that their presence in Lake Erie is due to 

 the opening of canals. They are native, however, in the Ohio. 

 Whether they breed in the State, or in fact in any fresh water, is still 

 uncertain. I am inclined to think that they do breed in fresh water, if 

 for no other reason than that I have found young Eels, less than an inch 

 long, in the head waters of the Alabama River, some 500 miles from the 

 sea. The habits of the Eel and its excellent qualities as a food fish are 

 too well known to require special notice here. 



The question as to the sexual characters and relations of the Eel has 

 long remained a standing puzzle to naturalists. The following account 

 of the recent final settlement of this question, from the New York Times, 

 will be of interest in this connection : 



When Prof. Baird announced to the American Fish Culture Association, in February 

 last [1878], that he had within the six weeks previous received Eels with ripe ovaries, it 

 started a ripple of excitement in the room, which in a few days reached every natural- 

 ist in the land, and awakened new interest in the old question of the mode by which 

 this mysterious fish perpetuated its race, one which had baffled all inquirers since man 

 first sought to penetrate the secrets of creation, and which had almost by common con- 

 sent been relegated to the category of " things which no fellow can find out." 



In commenting on this discovery, writers have ransacked history from Aristotle down, 

 and have given all the theories which have been entertained by people who framed 

 them in order to hide their ignorance, and who had not the moral courage to confesi 

 that they really did not know how the fish did breed. Aristotle, after roasting the in^ 

 testines of Eels, and recording that he heard the eggs crack, afterward doubted the ev 

 idence, and, for want of something better, declared that they were born of mud. Thii 

 was improved upon by Pliny, who solemnly attributed their origin to particles rubbec 

 from mature Eels by contact with rocks, etc. Later conjectures of fishermen and othei 

 have credited their existence to the "hair worm" or "hair snake," Gordiua, who in iti 

 turn is absurdly said to originate from a hair. Mussels, lamphreys, carrion, and othei 

 objects, animate or inanimate, have been charged with their maternity, bat since the 

 statement made by Prof. Baird, last season, many persons have been on the lookout for 

 the ovaries of the Eel, but without success, until recently, and now, since Mr. Eugene 

 G. Blackford, of Fulton Market, has shown them to the fishermen, fish-dealers, and 

 others, they all say: "Oh, yes, that is what we call 'Eel fat,' it is always plenty at 



