KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



121 



We have now spoken our mind, as is our 

 wont, fairly and fearlessly, and trust our 

 remarks will be perused by the major part 

 of those to whom they are addressed. Our 

 file — aye, files — groan with letters from the 

 nobility and gentry, lamenting the existence 

 of what we ourselves now dot down. Many 

 of these noble hearts, with much genuine 

 liberality, have our Journal sent down to 

 their mansions by post ; preferring to pay 

 the extra cost rather than experience delay, 

 or be disappointed in the regular receipt of 

 their paper. 



We ask — Is this right? We ask it 

 the more emphatically, as our allowance 

 to the Booksellers and Dealers ex- 

 ceeds that of ANY OTHER HOUSE IN 

 LONDON. 



We continue to receive a number of 

 Letters and Contributions, to which are at- 

 tached initials only, or fictitious signatures. 

 This is all quite proper as regards what has 

 to appear before the public ; but an addi- 

 tional favor will be conferred on us, if the 

 writers will be so good as to honor us, in 

 confidence, with their names and addresses 

 in full. As we have elsewhere said, we 

 wish to be on a " friendly" footing with all 

 our regular readers, and to know where to 

 apply to them. 



In consequence of the earnestly-expressed 

 wishes of our Readers, we have entered into 

 a negociation with the Proprietors of the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle Newspaper, for the 

 purchase of their entire interest in the popular 

 Articles on " British Song Birds' 1 that 

 have appeared therein, written by our pen. 

 We trust to be able in our next, to announce 

 the issue of the negociation. If in our 

 favor, the Public shall have the immediate 

 benefit of the " Reprint," with many New 

 and interesting Additions. The Articles, 

 themselves, have long since been out of 

 Print, and not obtainable at any cost. 



ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 



On the Propagation of Eels. — I am, like your- 

 self, a lover of nature, and therefore venture to 

 employ my pen on this subject, just to show 

 that eels do not breed in fresh water, neither are 

 the species propagated by spawn. I have seen and 

 caught eels of all sizes, in the rivers of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, and have also minutely 

 examined sizes and sexes, but never saw one 

 having eggs or spawn. In the tidal and other 

 rivers, I have, in May and June, seen the eel 

 fry ascending/rom the sea, in countless myriads; 

 and, no matter how often thwarted, by muddy- 

 ing the water or otherwise agitating it; no 

 matter how often these wee things were driven 

 back, — again and again do they face the stream, 



their motions ever being upwards and onwards 

 with a perseverance that death only can prevent! 

 When quite a child, I first noticed these tiny 

 morsels (from the size of a bent straw to that of a 

 wheaten straw, and about two or three inches 

 long), climbing their way up the rocky falls of a 

 little brook 1 had to cross, on my way to 

 school. This Avas at least ninety miles from the 

 sea! On the sunny evenings, on my return, 

 often have I caught these little creatures, built a 

 little fish-pool of mud, on the margin of the 

 stream, filled it with water, and placed therein 

 several of my little captives. However, on my 

 return in the morning, they had always disap- 

 peared; how, I could not then imagine, seeing 

 that they had neither legs nor wings. With the 

 hope of keeping my next prisoners safe, I covered 

 my pool thickly over with grass; still, however, 

 the morning found not the "grigs." They, like 

 the others, had regained their liberty, and were 

 somewhere pushing their way upward, seeking 

 for some congenial pool wherein to grow bigger. 

 In a few days, my little visitors were not to be 

 found ascending as usual ; and, after the midsum- 

 mer holidays, I searched again in vain. Not 

 one was to be found. The tribes had gone up, 

 and July witnessed not their migrations. How- 

 ever, another May came, and brought other 

 wanderers up the brook, and new sources of 

 amusement to me. I was too young to know, 

 and had no one to tell me, that in a few days 

 these too would be removed from me ; but so it 

 was. And in this year, before the 20th of June, 

 I had lost them altogether; but the recollection 

 remained, and, in after years, I saw many proofs 

 of the instinct of these viviparous travellers. 

 When I became a man, I occupied a farm about 

 five miles from the sea. Part of the farm was 

 meadow, lying in a valley, through which mean- 

 dered a small stream. The water of this I had 

 dammed up often Avith clay and stones, from 

 which were cut sluices, for the purposes of irriga- 

 tion. Amongst the clay and stones had grown 

 lichens, grasses, &c. One day in May, I found 

 these grasses literally swarming with little fry, 

 such as had so often amused me in childhood ; 

 and they were, as usual, on their upward journey, 

 wriggling their way through the grass and lichen, 

 and on the moist clay leaving their trails or foot 

 prints. Lay after day was I amused by their 

 successful climbing over the barriers, and oft-times 

 1 shared their joy, when after having conquered 

 the difficulties of "an overland journey," they 

 floated again in their native element above the 

 weir, and, without stopping to rest, or look back 

 on the perils of the past, started upward with 

 new energy, teaching a moral to bigger folk. 

 These facts convinced me how I had lost the 

 prisoners of my childhood from the little pool, 

 and they' will also satisfy " G. H." how he gets 

 "eels of all sizes into his three-acre pool," 

 if he will look among the mosses and grasses on 

 the banks of his pool, in the month of May or 

 June. At the weirs, on the banks of many 

 rivers, have I witnessed this migration on a 

 larger scale. At Derby, I once saw a weir 

 literally black with moving eel fry. I have seen 

 them on mill-wheels, and in sluices; and 

 almost every miller, or persons having charge of 

 mills, might, in May or June, see a colony on its 



