YOUNG EELS. 647 



Search fob young eels. — As might have been foreseen, remarks Jacoby, Syrski's discovery 

 drew attention anew to the solution of the eel problem. In the spring and summer of 1877 the 

 German and Austrian papers and journals were full of articles and paragraphs upon this subject. 

 Among others the following announcement made the rounds of the press: "Hitherto, in spite of all 

 efforts, science has not succeeded in discovering the secret of the reproduction of the Bel. The 

 German Fischerei -Verein in Berlin offers a premium of fifty marks to the person who shall first find 

 a gravid Eel which shall be sufficiently developed to enable Professor Virchow in Berlin to dissipate 

 the doubts concerning the propagation of the Eel." Herr Ballmer, of Schleswig, inspector of fisheries 

 in that province, offered to transmit communications to Berlin, and in 1878, in the January number 

 of the " German Fishery Gazette," he piiblished a detailed and very interesting report of his proceed- 

 ings. He wrote, among other things, that it was quite beyond his expectation that this announce- 

 ment would have found its way into nearly all the German journals between the Ehine and the 

 Weichsel and from the Alps to the sea. The number of letters which he received first rejoiced 

 him, then surprised him, finally terrified him, so that at last he was obliged to refuse to attend to 

 the communications. He had learned at Berlin that an equal number of communications from all 

 parts of Germany had been received, sent directly to the address of Professor Virchow. Objects 

 which were said to be young Eels cut out of the parents, but which were really thread-worms, 

 were sent to him by dozens ; the most incredible stories, usually from women, about great thick 

 eggs which they had found in Eels, were received by him. A witty Berliner communicated to him 

 in a packet sent by express the information that the eel problem was now happily solved, since a 

 lady Eel in Berlin had given birth to twins. Finally Herr Ballmer found himself compelled to 

 insert the following notice in the " Schleswiger Kachrichten " : " Since the German Fischerei -Verein 

 has offered a premium for the first gravid Eel, the desire to obtain the prize, curiosity, or the 

 desire for knowledge has created so lively an interest upon this point that it might almost be 

 called a revolution. I at one time offered, when necessary, to serve as an agent for communica- 

 tions, but since business has compelled me to be absent from home a great part of the time, I 

 would urgently request that hereafter packages should be sent direct to Professor Virchow in 

 Berlin. I feel myself obliged to inform the public upon certain special points. The premium is 

 offered for a gravid Eel, not for the contents of such an Eel, since if only these were sent it would 

 be uncertain whether they were actually taken from an Eel. The Bel must always be sent alone; 

 the majority of senders have hitherto sent me only the intestines or the supposed young of the 

 Eel, which were generally intestinal worms; the Bel itself they have eaten; nevertheless the prize 

 of fifty marks has been expected by nearly all senders," etc. By this transfer of the responsibilities 

 the inspector of fisheries has rendered a verj"^ unthankful service to Professor Virchow; he was 

 obliged to publish a notice in the papers in which he urgently stated that he wished to be excused 

 from receiving any more packages, for he would hardly know what to do with them. The comic 

 papers of Berlin now circulated the suggestion that hereafter the Eel should be sent to the inves- 

 tigators only in a smoked state. This amusing episode is interesting in showing how remarkable 

 an interest the whole world was beginning to take in the eel problem.^ 



Normal, reproductive habits. — "It may be assumed with the greatest safety," writes 

 Benecke, " that the Eel lays its eggs like most other fish, and that, like the Lamprey, it only spawns 

 once and then dies. All the eggs of a female Eel show the same degree of maturity, while in the 

 fish which spawn every year, besides the large eggs which are ready to be deposited at the next 

 spawning period, there exist very many of much smaller size, which are destined to mature here- 



' Zoologischer Auzeiger, No. 26, p. 193 ; Amprioaa Naturalist, xiii, p. 125; and Jacoby, p. 44. 



