782 FISHES—ANGUILLIDA. 
small, well forward; anterior nostrils with a slight barbel; pectorals about half as long 
as head, rounded ; color olive-brown, or yellowish, sometimes almost black, the color 
extremely variable; head ten in length. D. & A. 455; length two to four feet. - 
Habitat, throughout the Northern Temperate Zone, in bays, and ascending all streams. 
Diagnosis.—A. person that does not know an eel at sight will not look to 
this paper for information. 
Habits—In the State of Ohio the Hel is not a very common fish, al- 
though there are few streams in the State in which they are not some- 
times found. [tis supposed that their presence in Lake Hrie is due to 
the opening of canals. They are native, however, in the Ohio. 
Whether they breed in the State, or in fact in any fresh water, is still 
uncertain. Iam inclined to think that they do breed in fresh water, if 
for no other reason than that I have found young Hels, less than an inch 
long, in the head waters of the Alabama River, some 500 miles from the 
sea. The habits of the Hel and its excellent qualities as a food fish are 
too well known to require special notice here. 
The question as to the sexual characters und relations of the Hel has 
long remained a standing puzzle to naturalists. The following account 
of the recent final settlement of this question, from the New York Times, 
will be of interest in this connection : , 
When Prof. Baird announced to the American Fish Culture Association, in February 
last [1878], that he had within the six weeks previous received Eels with ripe ovaries, it 
started a ripple of excitement in the room, which in a few days reached every natural- 
ist in the land, and awakened new interest in the old question of the mode by which 
this mysterious fish perpetuated its race, one which had baffled all inquirers since man 
first sought to penetrate the secrets of creation, and which had almost by common con- 
sent been relegated to the category of ‘‘ things which no fellow can find out.” 
In commenting on this discovery, writers have ransacked history from Aristotle down, 
and have given all the theories which have been entertained by people who framed 
- them in order to hide their ignorance, and who had not the moral courage to confess 
that they really did not know how the fish did breed. Aristotle, after roasting the in- 
testines of Eels, and recording that he heard the eggs crack, afterward doubted the ev- 
idence, and, for want of something better, declared that they were born of mud. This 
was improved upon by Pliny, who solemnly attributed their origin to particles rubbed 
from mature Eels by contact with rocks, etc. Later conjectures of fishermen and other 
have credited their existence to the ‘hair worm” or “hair snake,’’ Gordius, who in its 
turn is absurdly said to originate from a hair. Mussels, lamphreys, carrion, and other 
objects, animate or inanimate, have been charged with their maternity, but since the 
statement made by Prof. Baird, last season, many persons have been on the lookout for 
the ovaries of the Eel, but without success, until recently, and now, since Mr. Eugene 
G. Blackford, of Fulton Market, has shown them to the fishermen, fish-dealers, and 
others, they all say: ‘‘Oh, yes, that is what we call ‘ Kel fat,’ it is always plenty at 
