266 MR. T. SOUTHWELL ON THE REPRODUCTION OF THE COMMON EEL. 
It will be asked, seeing that Eels are so common, why has not 
their larval form been found in our own seas as well as in the 
Mediterranean 1 I should not like to say that such has not been the 
case, hut certainly they have not been observed. The answer must 
be, that their habit of concealing themselves in the sand or mud at 
the bottom of the sea at considerable depths is not favourable to 
their discovery, and that we have no such rasping currents as those 
which occasionally prevail in the Strait of Messina to bring them 
to the surface. One source of supply, however, which Dr. Grassi 
found very productive, would seem to indicate a direction in which 
search should here be made. In the Strait of Messina there is 
a fishery for the Sunfish ( Orthayoriscus viola), and in the intestine 
of this fish he was certain of finding a very large number of 
specimens. I would therefore suggest that the intestines of our 
deep-sea bottom feeding fish might also be found to yield us a like 
supply. 
There is another point in the life-history of the Eel with regard 
to which Dr. Grassi makes some very interesting remarks, and 
which I think conclusively settles the much vexed subject of the 
strange variations observed in the characters of the freshwater Eel, 
so marked, indeed, as to have even given rise to the opinion that 
more than one species exists. I would refer you to a paper on the 
subject by the late Dr. Day, in vol. iv. of our ‘Transactions,’ p. 333. 
I also made some observations on the subject in a paper published 
in Longman’s ‘Magazine’ in 1892, from which the following is an 
extract : “ It will be remembered that 1 stated only the sharp-nosed 
Eels were taken in the Eel-sets, and that they only ran down to the 
sea. Many Eels are compelled by circumstances to remain either 
in isolated ponds, or in the waters where they have been nourished ; 
these continue to feed ravenously whenever the weather is open, 
and large numbers are taken by means of worms and other baits ; 
they differ very considerably in form, colour, and general 
appearance from the Sharp-nosed Eel, and from the form of 
the head are known as Broad-nosed Eels. These are barren 
females, but whether permanently barren is not certain.” These 
yellow coarse-looking Eels are very different in many respects to 
the “ Silver-Eels ” which are taken in the Eel-sets -when on their 
way to the sea. With regard to these remarkable differences, 
Dr. Grassi remarks : “As a result of the observations of Petersen, 
