244 PHYSOSTOMI. 



1851). H. Frere (Zool. 1846, iv, p. 1216) considers that cold deadens hearing in 

 fish and where some eels were simply lying beneath the surface of the ice some 

 way from the edge which is usually the last to freeze, he found that a hole could 

 be cut in the ice only two or three inches from the fish, which were easily pulled 

 out with a pair of nippers. Where there were reeds projecting through the ice 

 the concussion carried down by any blow startled the fish, but where the ice was 

 uninterrupted they usually lay quite still until extracted. 



Lubbock considered the common eel in Norfolk not to be so voracious as the 

 snub-nosed variety, and more regular in its migrations. In the winter, numbers 

 of them are sometimes found laid up in the mud by the side of navigable 

 channels, and several stones' weight have been speared within the compass of a 

 few yards. They may almost be said to be omniverous, for several observers 

 have distinctly stated from personal observation, that they occasionally eat 

 vegetable substances. 0. Melsheimer (Rhenish and Westphalia Natural History 

 Society, 1877) remarks that after a series of years of observation he had come 

 to the conclusion that the food of this fish is exclusively animal. They feed on 

 the ova of fish and Crustacea, and are excessively partial to crabs when they are 

 shedding their shells : also to frogs and snails, and are said to prefer their food 

 fresh, usually rejecting it if tainted. Mr. J. Banister (Zoologist 1843, p. 108) 

 mentions a large rat struggling to escape from a hole a little elevated above and 

 near the edge of the water. It dragged after it an eel about f of a pound weight, 

 which appeared to have the greatest portion of the rat's tail in its mouth. After 

 dragging it out about six inches it let go. In another instance a rat was found 

 inside an eel. A skinned mouse, or plucked young sparrow are said to be good 

 bait in Lancashire. Mr. Longstaffe, while walking by the side of Thirston Burn, 

 May 27th, 1875, saw an eel which looked peculiar ; he shot it. It was on the 

 point of swallowing a large water vole, and had so far succeeded as to leave only 

 the hind limbs and tail sticking out of its mouth. It was 30 inches long. Eels 

 have also been known to devoiir moor-hens, young waterfowl, snakes, and fish of 

 any description. Mcintosh (St. Andrew's) gives an instance of one swallowing 

 another smaller than itself. The captive one doubled up its tail, thrusting it 

 from inside through the gill-opening of its captor and choked it. 



Migrations. — Eels, as from 'S^ lb. weight to those of smaller size, descend 

 streams and rivers (as the Severn, for instance) during the first rise in October 

 or November, during which period they cease feeding, but the take is more 

 successful when the floods occur late, because then the weeds have disappeared to 

 a considerable extent. Arriving at tidal waters they continue descending with 

 the ebb, but cease " running" when the tide flows. In Norfolk this downward 

 migration commences in July and continues to the end of November, and it has 

 been observed that as soon as the lamperns begin to run the eel stops. After 

 spawning, but few eels return again to the river. In " the Tare and Waveney, 

 the eels come do'mi in large solid balls from one to two feet in diameter, heads 

 inside and tails out ; and these living balls roll down the river and plump into the 

 nets with such force as to carry them away, for which reason the eel-fishers at 

 the mills dread their coming." A gentleman from Ireland informed me that be 

 had personally witnessed during the" months of September and October balls of 

 eels similarly rolling seawards. Pennant remarks that in the river Nyne, in 

 Northamptonshire, there is a variety of small eel that is found in clusters at the 

 bottom of the river and is called the Bed-eel, and is sometimes roused up by 

 violent floods. Pliny observed it in October and suggested they did so to ward 

 off the cold. 



During the early months of the year young eels, which are transparent, 

 having some minute dark spots on the back and sides, so as to appear longitudinally 

 striped, commence ascending rivers in incredible numbers, which migration, or " eel 

 fare," has been already alluded to (see page 240). Thus " they pass up the Parret 

 with the tides of March, April, and May ; a few (the fishermen tell me) ascend in 

 February, and those by June are about 3 or 4 inches long. They come in a 

 continual shoal, about 18 inches wide, without cessation, for some days, always 

 against the stream, and close to the left bank. The women catch them at night 



