282 EELS 



sion can find it in a notable epic by Canon Ingoldsby, entitled 

 "The Knight and the Lady." 



Nevertheless, in times past the eel has contributed a 

 great store of edible flesh to the people of New England — 

 where some of the finest of fishes have always been abundant! 

 There eels are eaten — stewed, fried, pickled and salted. 

 The flavor of an eel is not half bad, but its choice of food is 

 decidedly objectionable. If eels are to be eaten by civilized 

 people, then why draw the line at sharks, whose flesh is far 

 superior to that of eels? 



The United States Bureau of Fisheries has taken the eel 

 quite seriously, and been at considerable pains to introduce 

 it in the upper Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes above 

 Niagara Falls, and on the Pacific coast. And yet, Professor 

 Baird recorded this very pertinent statement: 



"It [the eel] is, however, a very undesirable inmate of 

 rivers in which fish are taken by means of gill-nets, the destruc- 

 tion of shad and herring in the waters of the Susquehanna 

 and others farther south being enormous. It is not unfre- 

 quent that, when a gill-net is hauled up, the greater part of the 

 catch consists simply of heads and backbones, the remainder 

 being devoured by myriads of eels in the short time the net is left 

 out." 



Is such a rapacious scavenger as this a species worthy 

 of introduction in any new waters save those of an avowed 

 enemy ? 



The maximum length of the Common Eel^ is about 4 

 feet, but the average length is less than 3 feet. The female 



' An-yti-il'la vul-gar'is. 



