FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 283 



the same species '] " matures in the depths of the sea, where it acquires larger eyes 

 than are ever observed in individuals which have not yet migrated to deep water. 

 * * * The abysses of the sea are the spawning places of the common eel. * * * 

 Its eggs float in the sea water. In developing from the egg it undergoes a metamor- 

 phosis — that is, it passes through a larval form. What length of time this development 

 requires is very difficult to establish. So far we have only the following data: 



" First, A. vulgaris migrates to the sea from the month of October to the month 

 of January ; second, the currents, such as those of the Messena, throw up from the 

 abysses of the sea specimens which, from the commencement of November to the end 

 of July, are observed to be more advanced in development than at other times, but 

 not yet arrived at total maturity ; third, eggs which, according to every probability, 

 belong to the common eel, are found in the sea from the month of August to that of 

 January, inclusive; fourth, the Septoccphalns brevirostris " (the specific name of the 

 larval form) "abounds from February to September — as to the other months, we are 

 in some uncertainty ; fifth, I am inclined to believe that the elvers ascending our 

 rivers are already one year old." 



ELVERS. 



The tales that are told about young eels running up rivers from the sea are 

 nothing short of marvelous ; but the fact that a single eel produces nine million eggs 

 will help us accept the number of elvers that go up a single stream in a body. Not that 

 the number is to be given here in figures, but rather in a blanket statement, for the 

 only estimate I have seen in figures is eighteen hundred passing a given point in one 

 minute; but the proximity of the point to the sea is not given, nor the width of the 

 school. For years I have been gathering all sorts of information, and misinformation, 

 about the common eel, chiefly because I think the eel works greater injury to our 

 trout, both lake and brook, by eating the fry and spawn, than can be estimated or 

 than we realize, and I have clipped everything my eyes have rested upon regarding 

 the eel. I do not propose to give one hundredth part of it here. One clipping, 

 which from the type I judge to be from the New York Sun, with the date line Milford, 

 Pa., says: "Here is a story told me by William Wallace, a man of unquestioned 

 veracity. Last spring he was informed by his wife, who had gone to the Big Bushkill 

 for a pail of water, that there was a mass of eels ascending the creek. Mr. Wallace 

 went to the creek and for a while watched a procession such as he had never seen 

 before, although he had lived his lifetime in the same house on the bank of this 

 stream. The eels were small, averaging possibly four inches in length, and were 

 formed in a dense column about two and one half to three feet wide, and were 

 rapidly making their way up stream. Mr. Wallace went about his work, but returned 



