124 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 
indicated by the name, is exceptionally small, and they 
vary in length from three to five inches 
For a time leptocephali were thought to be a distinct 
species, but about twenty years ago, Grassi, the Sicilian 
naturalist, by examining specimens obtained from the 
stomach of the sun-fish, discovered that leptocephali 
were the larval forms of the eel family. It is only within 
the last year or two, however, that the life history of 
our common eel has been partially worked out. 
Eels are present in almost all the fresh waters of 
Europe, and on the Atlantic side of North America. 
Two varieties are frequently described, viz. the broad- 
nosed and the sharp-nosed eel, but these are really 
one and the same fish, the former being the male and 
the latter the female. 
Male eels are usually found near the sea in brackish 
water, and in the mouths of rivers, whereas the females 
occur in every pond and stream. In October and 
November immense quantities of eels make their way 
down the river and descend into salt water. When con- 
fined in ponds without an outlet, eels frequently travel 
overland in order to reach water that communicates 
with the sea. 
Now comes a break in our knowledge of the exact 
journeyings of the eel, although there is sufficient evidence 
to make it highly probable that these fish shed floating 
eggs many hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic. 
The transformation from the leptocephalus to the 
eel, however, has recently been thoroughly investigated 
