I20 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



gether exceptional to meet with examples of 3 feet. They usually 

 average, however, about 2 or 2^^ feet. Of all fishes this is one 

 of the most despised by the angler on account of its habit of 

 twisting the line into a mass of tangles and knots in its contor- 

 tions when drawn from the water. In the Delaware I have 

 seen thousands of small eels during July and August wriggling 

 along the mud and flats as the tide ebbed out. They were about 

 3 inches in length. Some examples differ much in color, as I 

 have frequently taken individuals of a bright brassy color on 

 the lower surface of the body. The eel is a foul feeder. I 

 have seen an old carcass of a horse which w^as entirely sub- 

 merged at high tide furnishing a most welcome repast to hun- 

 dreds of these animals. When the tide receded they would 

 still crowd in the shallow water and the rippling formed by 

 their continued m.ovements, together with their biting at the 

 decomposed flesh, formed a loud noise. The carcass laid there 

 for several days before the greater part of it was devoured and 

 I never saw one about it during the day. I have also seen them 

 about the mouths of sewers. At Cape May it is the object of 

 considerable commercial enterprise. Not less than 18 to 20 tons 

 were shipped alive to New York and Boston during the year 

 1903. They are captured by most clammers as soon as the ice 

 drives them into the mud. They generally burrow 6 or 8 inches 

 down, sometimes a little further, and after they become more 

 or less quiet or dormant are speared. The burrows are small 

 holes which seem to be in certain localities having bottoms of a 

 nature these animals prefer. I have not ascertained whether they 

 lie coiled or stretched out. They appear to remain concealed 

 according to temperature and never burrow in warm weather. 

 Those intended for market use are taken in pots about 2 feet 

 long and 10 inches in diameter. One end of the pot is furnished 

 with a funnel opposite to the end of which is a hinged cap to 

 enable one to remove the contents. The bait used is chopped 

 king crabs placed at the far end of the funnel. The crabs are 

 caught in May and June and kept in live pens in the water or 

 until the ice kills them. The pots are placed on bottoms, where 

 they can always hold their contents alive, some being buoyed, 



