16 



COMMON EEL. 



Olive-brown Eel, subargenteous beneath > with the lower ja-w 



longer than the upper* 

 Muraena Anguilla. M. maxilla inferiore longhre, corpore uni- 



colore. Lin. Si/st. Nat. p. 42o\ 

 Muraena corpore immaculate, maxilla inferiore sublongiore. 



Block. 

 The common Eel. 



1 HE Eel, which, in a natural arrangement of the 

 animal world , may be considered as in some degree 

 connecting the fish and serpent tribes, is a native 

 of almost all the waters of the ancient continent, 

 frequenting not only rivers but stagnant waters, and 

 occasionally salt marshes and lakes : it is even found 

 in the spring season in the Baltic and other seas. 

 As a species it is distinguished by its uniform 

 colours, but more particularly by the peculiar 

 elongation of the lower jaw, which advances to 

 some distance beyond the upper : the head is small, 

 and pointed ; the nostrils small and cylindric ; and 

 at a very small distance from each eye are a kind 

 of additional pair, of a lengthened shape, but not 

 cylindric: the eyes are small, round, and covered 

 by a transparent skin united with the common in- 

 tegument of the body : the opening of the mouth is 

 small, and both jaws and palate are beset with 

 several ranges of small sharp teeth: on each side 

 both of the upper and under jaw are observed 

 several minute pores, through which exsudes a viscid 

 mucus : the orifices of the gills are very small, of a 

 lunated shape, and are seated close to the pectoral 

 fins, which are small and of an ovate shape: the 



