FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 287 



get to escape the pollution, and it seemed a pity that the trout could not have done like- 

 wise." An English writer, commenting on the case, said: "Although eels bear the 

 reputation of being dirty feeders and are fond of being buried in the mud, my experience 

 of them is that they are terribly susceptible to pollution of actually a poisonous char- 

 acter, and their testimony bears out my opinion. A river I know abounding with eels 

 has, since pollution has nearly ruined it, ceased almost to hold an eel at all ; at any 

 rate they are so few that they are not worth fishing for." 



ABUNDANCE OF EELS. 



Nearly every year some mills on a stream within fifty miles from where I live are 

 obliged to shut down and kill eels. The eels get into the mill wheels and block their 

 motion, and so interfere with the machinery that a shut-down and eel-killing is in order. 

 As to the number of eels that cause this trouble, no one can estimate it. Mr. Pinker- 

 ton, an English writer, says : " It is about this time of year that the annual migration 

 commences, the eels moving in the night, and always choosing a dark night for the 

 purpose. A change of wind, a clap of thunder, a cloudy night becoming clear and 

 starry, will at once stop the movement. I have frequently visited the great eel fishery 

 at Toome, on the lower Bann, where from fifty to sixty tons of eels are annually 

 caught in the migrating season. As many as seventy thousand eels have been taken 

 at this place in one night." 



The town of Ely, in England, is said to be named from the rents having been 

 formerly paid in eels, the lords of the manor being entitled to upward of one hundred 

 thousand eels annually. 



In one lake that I am very familiar with, when the lake trout gather on the spawn- 

 ing beds in the autumn, the eels also gather, and the sight under a flaming torch at 

 night is one to vex the soul of the trout fisherman. There are usually a far greater 

 number of eels on the shoals than trout, and the lake is full of trout and well stocked 

 annually, and they scarcely wait for the trout to deposit their eggs before they devour 

 them ; and the law will not permit the taking of eels from this lake in eel pots because 

 there are trout in it. Eels are rarely taken in this lake with hook and line, but they 

 grow fat on the trout spawning beds and would make good eating if eel pots were per- 

 mitted to take them out, and save the trout eggs in a degree. The New York Sun 

 had this news item in 1897: "The Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission of this 

 State was the first to recognize the destructive qualities of eels, and in its report for 

 1896 says: 'Fish of all kinds are spawn eaters to a greater or less extent, but the 

 eel is more destructive of spawn than any other fish, as it does not spawn in fresh 

 water and is ready to prey upon both the fall and spring spawning fishes. * * * We 

 would ask that the Commission have power to use or authorize the use of eel pots in 



