HABITS OP THE EEL. 633 



being enormous. It is not unfrequent 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. The spawning shad are considered by them a special delicacy, 

 and are found emptied at the vent and completely gutted of the ovaries. Sometimes a shad, 

 apparently full, is found to contain several Eels of considerable size. They do not seem to be 

 very destructive of living fish of any magnitude, although the young fry are devoured with 

 gusto." ' 



In describing the geographical distribution of the Eel it was stated that it occurs in the rivers 

 and along the ocean shores of ISTorth America. This being the case, as might be supposed, there 

 are many inland lakes and streams of the United States in which this fish does not occur; for 

 instance, the chain of the Great Lakes above Niagara Palls, and the upper waters of other 

 streams in which there are considerable obstructions. The cutting of canals in various parts of 

 the country has, however, produced a great change in their distribution ; for instance, it is stated 

 by MitchilP that Eels were unknown in the Passaic above the Great Palls until a canal was cut 

 at Patersou, since which time they have become plentiful in the upper branches of that river. 

 They have also been placed in many new localities by the agency of man. Concerning this Mr. 

 Milner remarks : 



"The Eel (Anguilla bostoniensis), appreciated in some localities and much vilified in others, is 

 another species that has been frequently transplanted. It is pretty evident that it never existed 

 naturally in the chain of Great Lakes any higher up than Niagara Palls, although specimens have 

 been taken in Lakes Erie and Michigan. Their existence there is with little doubt traceable to 

 artificial transportation. 



"A captain of a lake vessel informed me that it was quite a common thing some years ago to 

 carry a quantity of live Eels in a tub on the deck of a vessel while on Lake Ontario, and they 

 were often taken in this manner through the Welland Canal. He said that it was a frequent 

 occurrence on his vessel when they had become tired of them, or had procured better fishes, to 

 turn the remainder alive into the waters of Lake Erie. 



"In 1871 Mr. A. Booth, a large dealer of Chicago, had an Eel of four pounds' weight sent him 

 from the south end of Lake Michigan, and a few weeks afterward a fisherman of Ahnapee, 

 Wisconsin, nearly two hundred miles to the northward, wrote him that he had taken a few Eels 

 at that point. It was a matter of interest to account for their presence, and a long time afterward 

 we learned that some parties at Eaton Eapids, Michigan, on a tributary of the lake, had imported 

 a number of Eels and put them in the stream at that place, from which they had doubtless made 

 their way to the points where they were taken. The unfortunate aquarium-car in June, 1873, by 

 means of the accident that occurred at Elkhorn Eiver, released a number of Eels into that stream, 

 and about four thousand were placed by the United States Commission in the Calumet Eiver at 

 South Chicago, Illinois, two hundred in Dead Eiver, Waukegan, Illinois, and thirty-eight hundred 

 in Pox Eiver, Wisconsin." ^ 



They have since been successfully introduced into California. 



Life history. — Concerning the life history of the Eel much has been written, and there have 

 been many disputes even so late as 1880. In the article upon ichthyology, contributed to the 

 Encyclopedia Britannica, Gilnther writes : 



"Their mode of propagation is still unknown. So much only is certain, that they do not 



'MS. note by Professor Baird. 



= Transactions Literary and Philosophical Society New York, i, p. 48. 



'Report United States Fish Commission, part ii, 1874, 526. 



