392 THE ANGLEE-NATUEALIST. 



That Eels breed in fresh as well as in salt water appears 

 to be almost certain. A constant supply for the table is 

 obtained all the year round from inland ponds whence 

 there is no communication with the sea ; and the follow- 

 ing notes in a letter from Mr. Young apparently put the 

 matter beyond doubt. 



" The rivers in Scotland/' he says^ " were very low in 

 the month of July^ and I watched the motions of the Eels 

 in swarms (as I thought spawning) on the sand and gravel 

 banks in the river Shin. I should have mentioned this 

 circumstance to you whilst here, had I not wished to be 

 more certain ; but in October last I got a few men and 

 made them dig out one of the gravel banks where I had 

 observed the Eels all together, and found it alive with 

 young Eels, some of them scarcely hatched, at the depth 

 of from 6 to 15 inches." The conclusion arrived at by 

 Mr. Young from this circumstance is, that the river-Eel 

 does not go down to the brackish waters to spawn at all, 

 but deposits its spawn amongst the gravelly and sandy 

 beds of the stream during the summer months, — the eggs 

 hatching in the following September and October, but re- 

 maining concealed in the gravel until the succeeding April 

 or May (according to the warmth of the season), when the 

 young issue forth, the adult Eels, instead of migrating, 

 hiding themselves upon the first cold weather in banks 

 and under stones in the river, and there hibernating. This 

 theory may probably be the true one in regard to many 

 ponds (where, as observed, Eels certainly breed, and equally 



