COMMON EEL. 
THE EELS. 
I will praise an eel with the same praise. —SHAKESPEARE: Love's Labour’s Lost, Act I. Scene 2. 
It is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most dainty fish ; the Romans have esteemed her the Helena 
of their feasts; and some the queen of palate-pleasure. But most men differ about their breeding : some say 
they breed by generation, as other fish do; and others, that they breed, as some worms do, of mud.—Izaax 
Warton: The Compleat Angler, Chapter XIII. 
i Rae ordinary Eels (Anguillids) have well-developed pectorals and have 
also scales which at first are scarcely to be seen, but, on close exami- 
nation, and especially after wiping off the slimy covering, become manifest 
as small, oblong-oval bodies separate from and arranged at right angles to 
each other. They are often called “fresh-water Eels,” but, in truth, they 
never breed in fresh water, although so abundant in many such bodies. 
They are not to be found naturally, however, in streams or ponds which 
they cannot reach from rivers communicating with the sea. High pre- 
cipitous falls constitute effectual barriers. Below Niagara Falls, for example, 
at certain times myriads of thread-like young Eels may be seen, but none 
above. The life history, indeed, is very remarkable, and has only recently 
been cleared up. 
For ages it had been remarked that the Eel did not have ovaries or milt 
like ordinary fishes, and speculation was rife respecting its mode of propaga- 
tion. The most absurd ideas were entertained: it was generated from dew, 
from slime, from the “entrails of the earth,” from skins of old Eels or 
snakes, from water-beetles, from Mullets! It was viviparous! It was 
