Serpentine Apodaes.- 
FISHES. Anguileids. 
139 
posterior nostrils concealed by a fold of white integu- 
ment within the edge of the lip. These divisions are 
named respectively johaneromycteres or “ exposed nos- 
trils,” and cryptomycteres, “ concealed nostrils.” The 
latter division is conterminous with the single family of 
Ophisuroids, which, in addition to the character derived 
from the position of the nostril-tube, has another in the 
naked tip of the tail, projecting between the upper and 
lower vertical fins. In some of the genera the pectorals 
are very small, but they are not wholly absent in any 
Ophisuroid. Though the gill-openings are lateral, yet 
as they are frequently larger in the Ophisuroids than 
in other members of the Serpentiform Apodal group, 
and are moreover placed low on the side of the neck, 
there is often but a very narrow interval between them 
on the throat. The Ophisuroids have a smooth mucoid 
skin, destitute of scales. In some of them small cuta- 
neous tags fringe the upper lip, and in several the 
proximal ends of the nostril-tubes protrude like barbels 
ou the side of the snout. 
This familj' belongs to the warmer parts of both 
oceans. A few members of it inhabit the Mediterra- 
nean, and one species passes northwards along the 
Spanish coasts to the Bay of Biscay. 
The genera are — Leiuranus; Centrurophis ; PcBcilocephalus ; 
Microdonophis ; Coecilophis ; Ophisurus ; Herpetoichihys ; 
Brachysomophis ; Elapsopsis ; Mystriophis ; Murcenopsis ; 
Eckiopsis ; Leptorkinopliis ; Plsodonophis ; Lamnostoma ; An- 
(juisurus ; Sphagebranchns ; CirrhimurcBna ; Callechelys ; lcli~ 
thyapus ; Ophisuraphis ; MyropMs ; Mur«nichthys ; and 
Myrus (Kaup. Cat.) 
Family II.— ANGUILLIDS {Eel Family). 
Plate 1. fig. 6. 
This group contains but one genus {Anguilla), and 
its members, the Eels, are anadromous fishes, some of 
them living and dying in fresh water, and migrating 
merely from river to lake and back again after spawning; 
but generally they descend in autumn from the upper 
streams to the estuaries, where the mixture of fresh 
and salt water raises the temperature, and there deposit 
their spawn. In the ensuing spring the young may be 
observed ascending rivers, in dense columns, close to the 
banks, swarming up the moist gates of weirs and locks, 
and overcoming other obstacles to their upward course. 
This movement is called the Eel-fare. 
Lateral gill-openings, with opercula and bran-chio- 
stegals; conspicuous pectorals; the end of the tail 
encompassed b}'^ the union of the dorsal and anal ; and 
longish, oval, cycloid scales imbedded in the mucoid 
skin, transverse!}" and obliquely, so as to resemble 
lattice-work — are characters of 'the family, and of the 
single genus it contains. Card-like or villiform teeth 
arm the jaws. Dr. Kaup has described, in his Cata- 
logue, forty-five species, which are generally diffused 
in the fresh waters of both the northern and southern 
hemispheres, and doubtless the numbers will be greatly 
augmented by future ichthyologists, since hitherto col- 
lectors have given but little attention to the foreign 
members of the genus. 
As furnishing a nourishing food. Eels are in much 
request, though the Celtic races generally, and some 
other nations, entertain a prejudice against them because 
of their resemblance to serpents. Anguilla, the Latin 
name for the Eel, is retained in modern Italian, and 
means in fact a little serpent. In the time of Juvenal 
Eels were consumed by the populace at Borne, but 
were despised by the wealthy classes on account of their 
feeding in the sewers. No such dislike appears to have 
been entertained in England in after-times; and the 
cellaress of Barking Abbey is ordered by the statutes 
of that religious house to provide “Russaulx” (Rus- 
selet pears?) “in Lenten, to bake with Eles on Shrove 
Tuesday,” and to have “ Stubbe Eles and Nine-shaft 
Eles.”* 
In London at the present day Eels are a favourite 
delicacy of the working classes. Vast quantities are 
consumed in making a rich soup or stew, which is sold 
in pennyworths near coach-stands, being cooked on the 
spot over portable furnaces. Eel-pie houses are also 
numerous on the banks of the Thames, wherein this 
fish is served up to a higher class of customers. In 
Mayhew’s work on London Labour, ten millions of 
Eels are stated to be sold annually in the metropolitan 
fish-markets, weighing, at six Eels to the pound, nearly 
one million six hundred thousand pounds. Dutch 
fishermen are the chief suppliers of this article of food ; 
but considerable quantities are imported from Ireland, 
Eel fisheries being established on the Shannon and 
elsewhere in that island.f A great consumption of 
Eels also takes place in the manufacturing districts of 
England, so that altogether, though they cannot be 
classed as an important item in the staple food of the 
nation, they are useful as a variety of diet, and a cheap 
luxury. Eels are taken in the fenny districts by 
barbed spears of several prongs, which are plunged 
into the mud and withdrawn again, often with one or 
more Eels impaled on the barbs. In rivers a more 
regular fishery is carried on by fixing a barrier of wicker 
baskets across the stream. Many are also caught by 
hooks, baited with worms or fish, and set over-night. 
Frost or bright moonshine are adverse to success in 
this kind of fishery. The New York market, according 
to Dr. Mitchill, is supplied with Eels at all seasons, the 
fishery being carried on in summer by eel-pots, nets, 
or by bobbing in the evenings with a bunch of tough 
bait; in winter Eels are procured by spearing in the 
mud. 
Charlevoix in his “ History of Canada,” Hi. 170, gives 
the following notice of a productive Eel-fishery estab- 
lished above a century ago on the Saint Lawrence. 
In the course of the river between Quebec and Trois 
Rivieres a prodigious quantity of large Eels are taken 
in this manner. On the wet beach, exposed to the 
atmosphere by the ebb-tide, boxes are built at certain 
distances ranged opposite an inclosure of hurdles, 
through which the Eels cannot pass. Hedges of inter- 
laced willows diverge from the mouth of each box and 
run to the line of hurdles, tufts of grass being attached 
to them at intervals. 'When the Hood-tide has covered 
* By stubbe Eels were meant probably thick, short ones, 
anti if the term nine-shaft be equivalent to “ nine-eyes,” the 
second kind of Eels were Lampreys. A shaft monde was a 
measure of length equal to about half a foot, but four and a half 
feet w’ould be a very extraordinary length for eels. 
I The amount of Eels brought annually by sea to London has 
been stated at seven hundred tons I — (Simmons’ Cur. of Food). 
