490 
Fishes. 
THE EEL. (Anguilh vulgaris.) 
The Eel resembles a serpent in its form, though no two 
animals can be more different in every other respect. 
Eels are fresh-water fish ; but as they are very suscep- 
tible of cold, those which inhabit rivers go down every 
autumn towards the sea, which is always warmer than a 
river, and return in spring. They are said also to spawn 
in the sea, and great numbers of young Eels are seen in 
spring ascending tidal rivers. Mr. Edward Jesse, in 
his edition of " Walton's Angler," says : " A column of 
them has been traced in the Thames from Somerset 
House to Oxford, about the middle of May, and I have 
watched their progress with much interest. No impedi- 
ment stops them. They keep as much as possible close 
alongshore, and as they pass watercourses, open ditches, 
and brooks, &c, some of them leave the column and 
enter these places, along which they eventually make 
their way to ponds, smaller rivers, &c. So strong is the 
migratory instinct in these little eels, that when I have 
taken some in a bucket and returned them to the river 
at some distance from the column, they have imme- 
diately rejoined it without any deviation to the right or 
