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CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



squirming over the moist meadow-lands or the dewy grass, pass 

 to a river in the vicinity, where they may enjoy purer water and 

 better conditions. 



A great many interesting incidents might be told bearing upon 

 this chapter of the life-history of these remarkable fishes. Many 

 and peculiar have been the theories in regard to the reproduction 

 of eels. Originating probably with Aristotle, the idea was long 

 entertained that they sprang from mud; later they were sup- 

 posed to be bred in the ground; some believed eels to be vivip- 

 arous, and even to-day it is not difficult to find those who will 

 contend that young eels are produced from the hairs of the tails 

 of stallions that have been deposited in the water. Sharp in- 

 deed, in times past, have been the disputes upon this question, 

 but it is now firmly established that, agreeing with other teleos- 



Fig. 22. The Common Eel (Anguilla vulgaris). 



Drawn by the Author, after Goode, and greatly reduced. 



tean fishes, they are oviparous, and have, like them, a milt and 

 roe, which, though differing considerably in appearance, never- 

 theless functionally fulfill the same end. Eels deposit their 

 spawn in sand or mud in brackish water at the mouths of rivers, 

 and to reach these localities they migrate in autumn, down vari- 

 ous water-courses, to their spawning beds. This migration is 

 performed only upon the darkest nights, the reverse being the 

 case with the young eels in the springtime, they in their turn 

 passing up the rivers during the day in enormous numbers. In 

 England, says an authority at hand, " this migration 

 takes place from February to May, according to the tempera- 

 ture, and some idea of the vast numbers of young eels which an- 

 nually pass up our rivers may be formed from the fact that 1,800 

 of them, each about three inches long, have been observed to 

 pass a given point on the Thames in a single minute." 



