96 MARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES 



being taken advantage of by the riparian proprietors for their 

 capture. Mr. Eden, of the Buckland Museum, has informed 

 the writer that he was present in November, a few years 

 since, at an Eel-taking from the river Erne in Ireland, when 

 the fish, to the amount of no less than ten tons, were inter- 

 cepted in a single night, at one of six stations established on 

 the river, during their migration from Loch Erne to Donegal 

 Bay to spawn. The Eels thus captured are immediately 

 nailed down in trunks — the boxes used in spring for the trans- 

 port of Salmon being utilised in the instance quoted — and 

 are then despatched alive to the English markets. Eels 

 not only live for a long while out of water, but often volun- 

 tarily leave the ponds or rivers they normally inhabit, in 

 search of food or more congenial residence. A weight of 

 eight or ten pounds, with an average length of four feet, 

 is not uncommonly attained by the Silver Eel ; several 

 casts of specimens possessing these fine proportions will 

 be found in the Buckland Museum. The Conger Eel 

 {Conger vulgaris), No. 182,1s an exclusively marine species, 

 growing to a length of no less than six to eight feet, with a 

 weight of from 50 to 60 lbs. to over a hundredweight. 

 Doubtless many of the legendary tales respecting the Sea- 

 serpent originated in connection with giant Congers. The 

 largest examples are captured off rocky coasts, such as those 

 of Cornwall, Devonshire, and the Channel Islands. Though 

 but rarely seen in the London markets, it with proper 

 treatment yields a most appetising and nutritious food, and 

 is largely utilised as the basis of various soups, such as mock 

 turtle, and in the Channel Islands is made into the soup 

 locally known as bouillabaisse. Conger stewed after the Lan- 

 cashire fashion in milk, with a little butter, pepper, salt, and 

 just a flavour of union, can be highly recommended by the 

 writer. Casts of remarkably large specimens of this Eel 



