of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



213 



majority of the eels which migrate to the sea, appear to return to fresh 

 waters, but not in a body, but irregularly throughout the warmer parts 

 of the year. Robin in this connection says, ' As to the return of the 

 ' females from the sea, this cannot be denied ; indeed I have received from 

 1 M. Dufourcet some female eels of the variety Sardias, taken in January 

 ' and February in the Adour, at about 40 kilometres from the sea, one 

 ' half of which had their stomachs filled with examples of Eunice sanguinea 

 * and Doris, which are exclusively marine invertebrates.' Confirmatory 

 evidence is given by the eel-fisher uien on the Eden, who state that silver 

 eels, which are as large as the migrating eels, come up from the sea in 

 July, and go right up stream. They are in fairly large numbers and are 

 accompanied by small eels. 



The Young Eel, Elver, Civelle, Montee, etc. 



Nothing is known of the life-history of the eel between the migration 

 of the adult eels to the sea in autumn, and the arrival of the transparent 

 young eels at the mouths of the rivers in spring and summer. The 

 young eel, 'elver,' in England, 'civelle,' and 'montee,' in France, is 

 eaten in some places in England, and gives rise to an extensive fishery 

 in certain parts of France. The civelle is only of value for food while it 

 is transparent j with the appearance of pigment the young eel loses its 

 delicate flavour. The elver, which is found ascending our freshwater 

 streams in immense numbers during spring and summer, is a little 

 transparent eel about 6-7 cm. long. Benecke gives 1-3 cm. as the 

 size of the young eels when they begin their wandering in the sea 

 towards the rivers. When the civelles appear at the mouth of the 

 Loire they measure 4-5 cm. Kuppfer observed great quantities of 

 young eels of about 3 cm. in length in the brackish water of the Eider 

 at Friederickstadt. According to Packard, the little eels which appear 

 in April and May measure 3-4 inches. Ryder * says that the young 

 eels which come up in spring are about 2 inches long. Mr John Sear f 

 of Danvers, Mass., claims to have found during March, young eels 

 somewhat less than an inch in length, with the yolk-sac still attached. 

 In the elver, while there is yet no trace of sexual organs, there are 

 present all the essential characters of the adult eel, viz., the swim- 

 bladder, the projecting lower jaw, and the dorsal fin commencing 

 much nearer the middle of the body than that of the pectorals. There 

 is no pigment in the skin. In the elvers examined at St Andrews the 

 vertebral column, from the presence in it of a large quantity of black 

 pigment, shows itself distinctly through the transparent body wall as 

 a dark line. The eyes are large and very black. The nasal tubes are 

 proportionally larger than in the adult eel. The dorsal fin in the elver 

 commences a very little further forward than in larger eels. This fact 

 is shown by a consideration of the ratio, which the total length of the 

 eel bears to the distance from the tip of the lower jaw to the beginning 

 of the dorsal fin. In fifteen eels of from 15 , 8-9203 cm. in length, 

 this ratio was found to vary from 3'03 to 3*42. In thirteen elvers, 

 measuring 66-87 mm., the ratio varied from 3*36 to 3*83. The point 

 at which the dorsal fin commences is not a fixed one ; it varies con- 

 siderably both in elvers and adults. By taking the average ratio, 

 however, it is seen that the dorsal fin is carried distinctly further 

 forward in the elver than in the larger eel. It is also found that the 



* Ryder, 'Note on the Male Organs of the Eel,' Bull. U.S. Fish. Comm., 

 vol. v., 1885. 



+ Packard. Loc. tit. 

 P 



