APPENDIX. 
135 
of finding their way to some large river, from whence their 
ultimate destination, the sea, might be obtained. This cir- 
cumstance took place at Sandford Park, near Enstone. 
At Cracombe there are two large fish ponds, united partly by a 
ditch, though with a high bank intervening between the ponds 
and ditch. As the ponds contained a number of store carp 
and tench, the eels were repeatedly destroyed, but as con- 
stantly reappeared ; we are therefore led to believe that they 
ascended the ditch and crawled over the intervening dry land. 
A strange circumstance corroborates these opinions ; a very 
fine eel was found in a cellar at Cracombe, but whether it had 
descended, by the grating, or ascended by the drain, I am 
not prepared to say. From the best authority, I can 
affirm that eels have been seen creeping up the lock gates, 
clinging to the weeds and mosses which cover the wood- 
work. Early in the summer great numbers of the young 
elvers, seldom exceeding five or six inches in length, which 
are supposed to be the first of the species which take their 
departure for their annual pilgrimage, may be seen working 
amongst the stones when the water is low. There are two 
distinct kinds of eels in the Avon, the silver, and yellow eel ; 
there is likewise another description, but which I have never 
seen, called frog-mouthed eels by the fishermen, from the 
extraordinary width of the mouth. 
The river shells are extremely numerous, and though much 
thinner in substance than those of the ocean, bear to them 
a strong resemblance in form, and some even in colour. The 
MeritcB are almost exact fac-similes of those found on the 
West Indian coast. The Mya occasionally produces pearls, 
sometimes nearly perfect, at others forming a part of the 
shell, apparently caused by some injury which the exterior 
had received, and which the inhabitant had endeavoured 
to remedy. 
