374 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
Tur Ee., Anguilla communis.—Of this fish there 
are several varieties, but they differ so little as to require 
no particular mention. They do not exist above the Falls 
of Niagara, which they cannot ascend, being migratory fish 
descending to the sea, where they grow to a vast size, and 
ascending annually to spring waters. In length they are 
from 1 to 8 feet; color, on the back sometimes a dark olive 
brown, at others light brown; belly, always white and sil- 
very, especially in the silver eel, a variety peculiar to some 
rivers. Head flat, and jaws more or less oblongated, but 
the lower jaw always the longer; eyes very near the 
mouth, and small, with a reddish iris; gill-opening set 
far back, and close to the temporal fin. The eel is now 
ascertained to spawn in the sea, for which purpose it de- 
scends from its usual haunts and visits the ocean. It has 
the power of overcoming all obstacles, because it can leave 
the water, and by its serpent-like form, travel over or 
round any flood-gate, or mill-dam, in its course, whether 
up or down stream. It generally chooses dark stormy 
nights for this purpose; and its migration downward takes 
place in the months of August, September, and October, 
during which time eels are taken in large numbers by the 
millers throughout the country, who set their pots at the 
chief water-courses. els are generally considered to be 
viviparous, but they seem, like many other animals, some- 
times to produce their ova already hatched, and at others 
to eject them with their contents still in an embryo state. 
The young first appear on the coasts in March and April, 
and are then seen in enormous quantities. They soon 
ascend the rivers, and by various devices they surmount 
