of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



217 



1 takes place the later the higher the latitude. Observations made on 

 ' the Orne show that the sea exercises a sensible influence on the arrival of 

 1 the little eel. The fishing is especially fruitful during the two days which 

 1 precede, and the three days which follow, either the new or full moon. 



* The fry, unable to stem the current, take advantage of the spring tides 

 1 to enter the rivers. This explains why on our Mediterranean water- 

 ' courses the fishing of the civelle is not practised. The montee there 

 ' is known ; it has been thoroughly investigated and described by various 

 ' authors. There, in a sea without any very sensible ebb or flow, the 

 1 phenomenon could take place over the whole of the post-larval period, 

 1 and this does not permit of a regular and easy fishing as on the ocean 

 ' coasts. One is equally struck by the fact that the army of young eels 

 1 only appears at a certain distance from the river's mouth, and also 

 ' rapidly ceases in amount. Thus in the case of the Gironde, where the 

 ' investigations have been most complete, and have been carried over at 



* least 35 leagues of the river, the fishing is of very little value at Royan, 

 ' has considerable importance at Verdon, diminishing sensibly from 

 ' Dignac, more still at Pauillac, to become insignificant or nothing at 



* Blaye, Bordeaux and Langon for the Garonne, at Libronon for the 

 1 Dardogne. This decrease in the fishing depends above all on this, that 

 1 the metamorphosis of the civelle during the montee takes place very 

 1 rapidly, once the fish arrives in fresh water, and greatly modifies 

 1 its nature. In its first state the animal is gelatinous in appearance, 

 1 betraying itself in the midst of the liquid by its black eyes, and the 

 ■ reddish coloured spot formed by the heart and gills. It dies rapidly out 

 1 of water, whatever care is taken to preserve it. In the second stage the 

 1 skin is thickened and charged with black pigment, which colours all 

 ' the upper parts, the under parts remaining a silver white. Under its 

 1 changed appearance it represents, save in dimensions, a true eel. 

 ' Taken out of the water it resists asphyxiation in a remarkable fashion, 



* provided it is kept in a humid medium, a fact well-known in aquiculture, 

 ' and it is under this form of montee, properly speaking, that it can 

 ' be carried to a distance to replenish lakes and water-courses. This 

 ' difference in appearance is accompanied with modifications in the 

 ' edible qualities of the fish, so that the civelle, which is much sought 

 ' after under its first form in the localities where it is taken, for it will 



* not stand transport, is rejected under the second form as indigestible 

 1 and of unpleasant taste. The civelle, indeed, is constituted of tissues 

 1 largely embryonic, and above all includes in its abdomen a noticeable 

 ' quantity of nutritive reserve material (vitello-iimbilicale), a substance 

 ' easy of assimilation, but the montee properly speaking, that is, immedi- 

 1 ately after the absorption of the embryonic reserve materials to form 

 1 definite tissues, is lean, and offers none of the qualities sought after in 

 ' an article of diet, a fact which explains the abandonment of the fishing.' 



The young eels on entering a river swim eagerly up stream. Numbers 

 leave the main body and follow the course of each tributary. They over- 

 come obstacles in a remarkable manner, ascending even perpendicular rocks 

 by creeping through the algae or wet moss covering the stones. They 

 burrow readily into the soft mud. The ascent of the young eels has been 

 described by many authors. Parnell,* in this connection, says, ( In June the 

 ' young are seen, from 2-3 inches in length, making their way up the 

 1 fresh- water rivers in innumerable multitudes, keeping a few inches below 



* the surface, and at a short distance from the bank. No obstacle appears 

 ' to arrest their progress. They have been known to climb up posts, and 

 1 to ascend into trees. They have also been observed crawling over land 

 ' from one pond to another.' That eels very often travel over wet grass 



* Parnell, 1 Fishes of the Forth,' 1837. 



