132 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mabch 16, 1882. 



rrs-hy. Silas Maroy's favorite streams are the Duck and 

 Flint ; rivers, here he often does aiblowork, Old 



r Si, ' as lie is of< -i! called, never fishes for small ones, using 

 aBhe loes, minnows thai are big enough for a fry.,, when 

 larger dnes are 



Th< detailed definition of the signs.qf the Zodiac which 

 I in the editor's columns of the Forest and Stream 

 cs ago, amused the above named gentleman very 

 much. Wli.n they begin operations 1 will keep you posted 

 as to their luck. li seems an opportune moment to 

 the attention of anglers down Easttothe fact th 

 thenjios) favored State in easyreackof them toll 



• irt, ami whero they can have not only all the corn- 

 forts ami luxuries of a civilized country, but better slill a 

 hearty welcome from our local sports. 



Qurfisl] market is well supplied at present, most of them, 

 however, are broughl from the Nothera lakes the Gulf, Reel- 

 foot, and Savannah. Andy ftTeadus, the principal fish dealer 

 in lliiseity. told me that on Saturday last he Bold upwards 

 of two thousand pounds, principally red snapper, perch, 

 and trout, lie had on his -tall a Warsaw which weighed, 

 Without the head, 150 pounds. The flesh of this fish is beau- 

 tifully white, and preferred by many to any oilier, Shad are 

 quite abundant, though raihe'r dear," selling as they do 2n els. 

 per pound. The striped bass, which are caught in large. 

 numbers in Kcelfoot Lake, are an excellent pan fish, perhaps 

 the most delicate of all the varieties whicli come from thai 

 extraordinary place, J. D. EL 



Nashville, Feb. 38. 1882. 



An Autistic Trade Catalogue. — We.ha.ve before us, in 

 quarto form, an illustrated book containing nearly all thai an 

 angler uses, except files. It is issued by the firm of Abbey 

 & liulit'ie. Xew York, The illu-lrations'are mostly new, and 

 ale neater than is usual with this class. The hooks are not 

 only drawn of the exact siZQS and curvatures, but a new sys- 

 tem of showing the side 1 1. aids by means of shadows is intro- 

 duced, which give a perfect idea of this important feature. 

 This method is copyrighted by Abbey & Imbrie-. and will 

 make their catalogue a standard work on fish-hooks. The 

 book is issued for the trad'' only, and not for -general circu- 

 lat'.-in. The pnes zi it. is five dollars. Wz d~ net. ,'emernber 

 to have seen finer lithograph work on a dealer's catalogue. A 

 "circular letter accompanying the book states that tie- plates 

 will not be loaned, even to their wholesale customers. 



Te;s?;kssee. — Port Royal, March 7, 1881. The black bass, 

 or, as locally known here, "trout/' season has opened in 

 earnest with' its, and the followers of dear old Izaae are 

 having royal Sport. The sucker season is also in full blast, 

 and anglers who love to fish for bottom biters are having 

 good sport. As a table, fish many think suckers superior to 

 trout, I do dearly love ihe sport of angling. But T had 

 rather angle for 'game fish, as it requires more skill and 

 knowledge of the habits of the finuy tribe to capture them. 

 The weather is cool now, but we have had some lovely 

 spring weather. Fields and pastures are green, peach and 

 plum trees in bloom, some forest trees are putting on their 

 summer robes, and we have heard, the joyous musical notes 

 of the spring birds. Forest and Stream is simply superb 

 in its new dress. — Bekqq. 



Striped Bass tn titk Hudson. — Thirty j r ears ago it 

 common to see. boats containing two or three men ancb 

 in the channel of the river at Albany fishing for striped I 

 G3p0d strings were taken, as we can personally testify. ] 

 the fish is rarely seen there. The original limit to the as 

 of this fish in the Hudson before the dams at Troy, 

 Miller and Fort Edward were built was Baker's Falls, t 

 miles below Glen's Falls. The sturgeon and shad 

 ascended to the same place, we are told in a private 1 

 recently received from a gentleman residing near there, 



also 

 ftter, 



THE EEL QUESTION. 



A paper read before the American Fi.shcultural Association by Prof. 

 G. Brown C4oode. 



[concluded.] 

 STRANGE MISSTATEMENTS TO IC1ITHYOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 



One may conclude from these observations that Ihe eels 

 preparing to spawn leave the inner waters early in December 

 and seek out the deeper places of the sea, where they cannot 

 lie caught with our ordinary implements of capture. The 

 eel eggs can only be found by a systematic investigation of 

 certain parts of' the sea bottom -with the dredge and the 

 microscope. This investigation might also include the sink- 

 ing of the migrating eels in special cases to the bottom of the 

 sea, in order to determine whether, underthese c^curhstani 

 the eggs would ripen more rapidly. By using the largest fish 

 for this purpose one could arrange, fry means of small open- 

 ings in the cages, to permit the entrance of the small male 

 eels. At any rate, there is no doubt from these observations 

 that the spawning period of the eel takes place in winter. 



In an irt.ele 1: ,• Gur.t: f.mdenhain entitled The Natural 

 History of the Fid" (Zur 7uaiir<i?s<idcJite der Aaty, which has 

 recently been published in the .Austro-Itungarian Fishery 

 Gfasette; extending through six. numbers, a fanciful contribu- 

 tor of that paper, among other wonderful things, claims to 

 have discovered the spawning of the eel in rivers and 

 ponds. I will allow the very sagacious gentleman to recount: 

 his summer night's dream in his own words, in order to show 

 with what certainty and precision the most baseless fables 

 concerning the natural history of the eel arc even yet 

 narrated : 



"The methods of spawning by the eel," writes this keen 

 observer, ''are very interesting, but to observe them is very 

 difficult and tiresi a and, todeed, only possible when the 

 (spawning place:, have already been determined by experience. 

 One must remain for many nights upon the shore, hidden 

 behind the bushes, with unflagging attention, until these 

 nocturnal adventurers have- come into the shallow water and 

 made their presence known by their snake-like motions at the 

 surface. As soon as they have gathered togethsr upon their 

 (jjiosen h» its fl bte is a eraat commo i m in the water, and 

 powerful blows n heardTso that the w.ii-r -.plashes up a 

 consul l :c, and the surface is covered with little 



. ..:-., ,'.)j .a pas moving- sh ml alterwhieh 

 >f parts Of the bodies of tha contending 

 jftl ! ' i ng fishes tkemselvc . After the 



duration of an hour or so il i- 'again quiet, and one sees that 

 the water is moved in different directions in serpent-like 



wave-. '• '■ ie ! and less apparent to the eyi Ol 



the observer, while tua eeW an- leaving i:ic spawning places 

 i e betaking tllelliseiveao lllilt; for r.>r,i I n: are Bl n 



i quiet fli • ',", places, if th.. Gbservej 



moyed by overwhelming curiosity, comes on the following 

 day to the same place, he sees nothing, but if he looks w ith a 

 strong magnifying glass carfefully over the viator-plants, he 

 discovers little greenish white eggs resting upon the bottom, 

 out of which |,he young eel will escape in about six weeks." 

 Ii i-. only to be regretted that the enterprising obser\ er has 

 not illustrated the whole development of Ihe egg by photo- 

 graphic views of his fannies. 



Another wonderful story was narrated by Dallmer. 16 

 A Flensburg eel-smoker' told him that once, in April, one 

 if the sacks in which eels heal been sent to him. after n had 



aier with the others; after 



iter eight to fourtei n days, 



om one to two inches long. 



n had been left in the bag 



lays, had developed into fishes 



A million of young 



been emptied, Was put 

 having been tied up h 



millions Of living von 



IF thought th 



winch, in eight lo four 



of one to i wo inches in lengl 



I : . inches in length would take a space of 9, Wl'cuhic inch 



which would be much more than a sack could contain. 

 Such a quantity of little 6sb.es would scarcely be able to find 

 in a sack tied together at its mouth food enough to enable 

 them to grow from a very minute size (the eggs in the ovary 

 have been found only 0.2'.>enn large, and may, perhaps, when 

 laid, measure O.oinm) j„ eight days to a length of from one to 

 two inches; let us, however, suppose that the eel-smoker, had 

 confounded a hundred Little eels with as many millions, it 

 could hardly, even then, happen that these little animal- in 

 from eight to fourteen days could have grown to 160 times 

 their original dimensions. The story would be much more 

 probable if it were supposed that the young eels in their 

 wanderings toward the fresh water had, perhaps, found 

 their way into a bag which was not tied up tit its mouth. 



Iu De La Blanchere's "Nouveau Dictionaire General de 

 Peche, Paris, 18GS," oecur"s the following paragraph, with- 

 out any indication of its source: "Chcnu and Desmarest do 

 not hesitate to state thai the eel spawns upon the mud after a 

 kin.i of copulation; that the eggs remain, adhering together, 

 joined by a glutinous substance analogous to that which con- 

 nect- the eggs of the fresh-water perch, and forms little 

 pellets or rounded globules. Each female, as they have 

 succeeded in observing, produces annually many of these 

 The little fish soon hatch out and remain, for the 

 first feW days after their birth, together in these masses, but 

 when they nave reached a length of 4 or 5 mm they shake off 

 the bonds which hold them and soon ascend in great bodies 

 to the streams and brooklets near which they find them- 

 selves." 



According to this, the eggs are deposited in masses of 

 slime, inside of which the young hatch out in the. course of 

 a few days, and a few days later they shake themselves free 

 and swim about al liberty, 



When and where these, investigators have made such 

 observations is not to be found out from the "Dictionaire;" 

 at any rate, it is very hard to understand how they have 

 proved that the same female eel yearly lavs several' sets of 

 eggs. 



EENECKE ON TEE MOVEMENT OF YOUNG EELS. 



Benecke gives the following thorough discusssion of the 

 movements of young eels: 



The young eels, hatched out of the eggs at sea, doubtless 

 live at the bottom until they grow, through consumption of 

 rich food substances there to he found, to a size from 1 lo 3 

 centimeters. \Vlien l.hey have attained this* size they begin 

 their wanderings in immense schools, proceeding to ascend 

 into the rivers" and lakes. These wanderings of the young 

 eels have been known for a very long time; for instance, in 

 the lagoons of Comaechio, in which They may be found, for 

 the most part, after they have gained the length of from G to 

 8 millimeters, and in Franca, later also in England, Den- 

 mark, Sweden, and, more recently, in Germany they have 

 also beep observed. 



According to the French reports young eels are hatched 

 out early in the winter, and in February, having obtained the 

 length of four or five centimeters, they appear in the brackish 

 wafer at the month of the Loire in immense numbers, soon to 

 i H gin ■". i :'. i wanderings up the s1 ream. They swim in crowded 

 if the river right up to the banks, and 



li tie detachments of the 



tributary and pursue their 

 swarms of young eels are. i. 

 "Moutata." The number 

 expected from the number of the 

 wonderfully large. Bedi has ree 

 January to the end of April, the 

 ing up the Arno. and that in 18Q 



iy deploy at the mouth of each 



amderings along its course. These 



lied in France "Montee;" in Italy, 



of the young fish is, as might be 



if the eggs in the ovary of the eel, 



anted that, from the end of 



rung fish continue wander - 



3,000,000 pounds of 



them were taken in five hours. Into the lagoons of the 

 Comaechio the eels pour from February to April. In March 

 and April they have been noticed in many French rivers, in 

 which the migration continues from eight to fourteen days. 

 The first account of these wanderings in Germany was that 

 given by Von Elders. In 1868 he wrote to Von Siebold: 

 "This took place about ten years ago, in the Tillage of Drcen- 

 hausen, iu the Province of Wesen, in the Kingdom of Han- 

 over. As we were walking, toward the end "of June or the 

 beginning of July, on a dike, which at that, place projects out. 

 into the Elbe, wc no' iced that along the entire shore there 

 might be seen a moving band of dark color. (Since everything 

 which lakes place in the Elbe is of interest to the inhabitant's 

 that region, this phenomenon immediately attracted at I en- 



lion, and it soon became appa 

 composed of an innumerable bo 

 pressing against each other, as. 

 they were forcing their way 

 whlle they kept ile-niselves SO c 

 [OVi " all it - .aiding- and CUT 



offish at the 



eni that this dark band was 

 ly of young eels which were 

 ti i iie surface of the stream. 

 upwards towards its source, 

 ose to the shore that they fol- 

 ren. The width of this band 

 eii : i rvefl (where the Elbe has 



a considerable depth) was perhaps a foot, but how- di 

 could not be observed, so thickly crowded together v. ere the 

 young eels. As they swain a, great number could be taken in 

 a bucket, ami il was very annoying to the people who lived 

 along the Elbe that, so long as the procession < >i fish lasted, 

 n.0 Water could be taken out of the river which was not full 

 of the. little fish. The length of the young eels wa-, i mi an 

 average, from three to four inches; I lie thickness of the body 

 about equal to that of a goose quill. By themselves 



might here and 

 but none of them wer 

 length. All of them. 

 onderJulproeessI 

 of the same density thrr 



naming ■-els of greater size. 



iily more than eight inches iu 



at smallest, were dark-colored. 



ja of fishes continued unbroken and 



ughout the whole of the day on which 



day. Or 

 the youn, 



Ihe Elbe. 



Of il 



ontinued also upon the I 



third day, however, not one of 



of about 3 centimeters' in length, in the brackish water of the 

 Eider, at Freiderckstadt; so also did Yon Sti 



"Every year." writes the latter, "from April to Ihe end of 

 June, there appear great mas-es of young eels, whichare pres- 

 ent in large schools toward the' LTppor Eider, seeking; in 

 every way to pass each other. In Apiil Ihe first eels show 

 themselves generally singly; cold Weather has evidently kept 

 them back up to this time; since this year, until to-day. no 

 ascent whatever has taken place, and n0 W the approach of 

 (he great schools is beginning. Where the current is l\ "ble, 

 the procession is broad; but when- the eels encounter a strong 

 current — near a mill— il becomes smali. and presses dose to 

 the shore, in order to ovenom ■ the cutri re . The little ani- 

 mal- swum eagerly and rapidly along near the banks until 

 they lind a place over which they decide lq 'limb. Sere 

 lhey lie in great heaps, and app ar to awail the rising of the 

 tide, Which makes their ascenl easier. The tide having risen, 

 the whole mass begins to separate without delay; eel after 

 eel climbs up on the sleep wall of rock, dt terminer! to reach 

 the little pools, at the height of 15 or 80 inches, into which 

 some of the waiter from ihe Upper EJider has found iis way, 

 Imo these holes ihe little animals creep, and have yetto 

 I ravel a distance of 40 or otl feet under Ihe roadway lore 

 they can reach the Upper Eider. Another detachment be- 

 takes itself to the sluice-ways, and clings to the cracks in the 

 wood; also around Hie mill's their ascent may be observed, 

 especially about sunrise.'"' '' 



Davy sends a similar account from Ireland. Tie was a 

 witness of the ascent of young eels, or "elvas," at Ballvshan- 

 non. at the end of July, 1823: he speaks of the mouth of the 

 river under the fall being "blackened by millions of little 

 eels about as long as a finger, which were constantly urging 

 their way up the moist rock beside of the fall." "Thous- 

 ands," he adds, 'V.ied; but their bodies, remaining, served as 

 a ladder by which the rest could make their way; audi saw 

 some ascending even perpendicular stones, making their way 

 through wet moss or adhering lo some eels that had died ^iu 

 the attempt." 1 7 



_ Such is the, energy of these little animals that they con- 

 tinued to find their way in immense numbers to Loch lane. 



In the little eels which ascend the rivers there are no traces 

 of sexual organs, but in the fresh water they develop only 

 into females. One of the most recent observations made by 

 Dr. Pauly, iu Munich, would appear to contradict this 

 idea, since he discovered male eels among the fish which 

 were brought with a lot of Jyoung eels toHuningen, wen- 

 kept there for (wo years iii ponds; and w< re finally re- 

 leased in the fish pond of Court-! ishevmann KaulTer. Wc 

 should bear in mind, however, that, these young eels wer@ 

 captured at the mouths of fresh rivers in brackish water | and 

 that among the numerous small eels which swim iu the 

 brackish water there must be many larger specimens, in 

 which the male organs have already begun to develop. Such 

 are doubtless those which were sent in the male condition to 

 Uiiningen and Munich, and were there recognized as males. 

 This presumption can be set aside only if male eq! bU 

 hereafter be found among the fish which -are caught in the 

 upper part of rivers in the condition of young fry. 



Concerning another important fad Which is connected 

 with the movements of the youHjrfry of the eel, I became 

 acqtiainted last year (in the course of 'an exploration of the 

 waters of the district of Eointzkuudc) with the river Brahe, 

 at Muhlhof. above Kittel, where a. high dam wats built in 

 1846 and 1847 for the purpose of watering a 1 irgg system til 

 meadOWS by the overflowing of the si ream. Below the dam 

 is an inclined plane (constructed of boards), about 300 feet 

 long, built for the purpose of preventing Ihe water, which 

 rushes out when the sluicegate is opened, from washing 

 away Ihe bottom of the stream and its banks. This plank 

 floor consists of two layers, Ihe lower one of 2-mch, the up- 

 per one of 3-inch boards. The grade of tin dam al Alu'iliiof 

 (33 feet 3 inches) has entirely cut off the ascent of the fry of 

 the eel into the upper part o'f the Brahe and the lakes tribu- 

 tary to it, and the number of eels caught above the dam — 

 Which was formerly yery considerable — has become reduced 

 almost to nothing. In the year 1847 the construction of the 

 dam and the inclined plane "was completed; in 185? the upper 

 layer of the planks on the plane had Warped and sprung up 

 in many places, so that it had to be lorn up for repairs. ThB 

 cause of the warping was immediately discovered ; thousands, 



of eels— as thick asa man's finger— somewhat fli d 



shape, and, on account of the absence of light, of a. 

 pure white color, filled the space between the two ! i d 

 planks, and their united pressure from beneath had caused 

 the upper layer to yield: these eels had found their way be- 

 tween the boards as fry, where (hey 1ml Eonnt . !■ -ul 'food 

 and had .grown to such a size that the pressure of their njuv 

 ted strength had pushed up the roof of their prison, These 

 facts, observed by an old millwright, were co anianicated to 

 me by Privy Counsellor Schmid, of Ala ri.ai warder, who 

 supervised the construction of the Muhlhof dam, and he 

 fully confirmed them. 



Eels of 4 inches in length, which iu May ate plenty in fish- 

 ponds, by the end of October reach a length of f () jiaches and 

 the thickness of a man's little finger; in the following fall 

 they measure from 20 M 2 t inches, and in the third year are 

 ready to be eaten. On account of their rapid growth and 

 hardy nature, in consequence of which latter they live in 



mud-holes and unprofitable waters of all kind-, ill" breeding 

 f eels is a very remunerative business. The young iish (of 



luths of 

 n taken 

 ) or 400 

 •s from 



serrations have been made at Wittenberg, on 

 Kuppfer observed greai quantities of young eels. 



15 Ftsehe iuu.I Ft, ji 



which, at the time of their first appearance i 



rivers, it Lakes 1,000 to 1,700 to make 



later and a little further from the .sea, it take? 



for the same weight) may lie obtained at 



France through Huningen, or in Gem. adeaberg, 



and, through the Berlin Aquarium, from Wittenberg, ami, 



when the temperature of the air is nr>1 too high, maybe car- 

 ried in soft moss through all Germany. 

 According to the statement of the well-known Paris iish- 

 :, fijU/t, two pounds of eels, planted in a muddy 

 pond in 1840, in five years yielded 5,000 pounds of due eels.' 



OBSERVATIONS OF 111!, S&BMBS i.X 1881 OX TliE O 

 The observations of Dr. Otto lhaaivs. director of the Berlin 



. ,l the yr.anfr >?els, 

 .: ica : id Erom allttie . i afined, aim 



.' :: . - : I . HE .:.:,.■.' ■ 



1 '--j. , .-..:'■-..._ 



■,■!,■ ; ; , 



ing Aug their offspring'. Proi ; , ., 



return in im r 



i .: ■' . : , I,,. 



■■ I ■ - - ■.■_-,,-■-.-:'....., ,, i-i ,, ..I.--1 foy the 



spray i I - . 



dam. At the for .:._,.-■,. ., ,y be wit- 



probably in oilier y: . . :,, 



swift for the young eela bo stem it without cwtacl 



Annate of vviacfi.s. oyd, p, SO. 



