EEL. 783 
this time of the year.” And now the wonder is that no one has discovered this before, 
for during all these long centuries, in which the question of the generation of Eels has 
been an open one, the eggs have been in plain sight; in fact, right under the noses of 
the investigators. It is also singular that all the Hels observed so far in the markets 
have been females. Mr. Blackford, after showing the ovaries to his eel-dressers, di- 
rected them to watch for any departure from this appearance, and some interest was- 
being awakened in the old assertion of their being hermaphrodites, although no sper- 
matozoa had been been found in connection with the ovaries, until the recent discovery 
of amale Eel by Prof. Packard set the question of their unisexuality at rest. These 
discoveries were being discussed in Mr. Blackford’s office a short time ago by a few gen- 
tlemen, among whom was Mr. Frederick Mather, the well known fish culturist, when a 
specimen was brought from an Hel weighing six pounds. 
. A portion was placed under the microscope, when the eggs appeared to be in shape of 
octogons, but which, Mr. Blackford stated, was caused by their pressing upon each 
other. Mr. Mather took the ovary home, and, after carefully examining the eggs, con- 
firms Mr. Blackford’s statement of their globular form when separated, but finds that 
the eggs, like those of all fishes before exclusion, are flaccid, and is of the opinion that an 
increase in size and solidity would occur after they had been deposited by the fish and 
the absorption of water and milt had taken place. The eggs varied so much in size 
that a measurement by the micrometer of one or two did not give as fair an idea of their 
dimensions as to place a number in a line, measure them, and count them under a low 
power, by which means, with three different lots, Mr. Mather found that they measured 
eighty to the inch, and when separated or the glass slide could be readily discerned by 
the naked eye. Mr. Mather then proceeded to estimate the number of eggs contained 
in this six-pound Kel, which was done by carefully subdividing the mass until a small 
portion contained a quantity which could be counted, and which was then multiplied by 
the number of divisions, thus: The mass was halved, quartered, etc., seventeen times, 
making the last section 1-131,072 of the whole. To avoid error, this was done three 
times, giving the first time sixty-eight eggs, or 8,912,896 in the whole. The second 
trial gave seventy-seven eggs, or a total of 10,092,544, while the third yielded seventy- 
one eggs, which showed the mass to contain 9,306,112. 
Considering the minuteness of the eggs, these different results are remarkably near each 
other, and Mr. Mather fixes the numbers contained in this individual fish at 9,000,000, 
which, when we consider that each of the ovaries was nearly a foot in length, and 
about half an inch in diameter at the thickest part, does not seem to be at all exaggerated. 
The wonderful fecundity of Eels is shown in the immense numbers seen ascending the 
streams in early summer, when each little elver of three inches probably represents 
one hundred eggs, which, from being devoured, infertility, and other causes, have failed 
to arrive at his length. 
ORDER VII. NEMATOGNATHI. THE CAT-FISHES. 
This order, easily recognizable at sight by the long barbels, dorsal and pectoral spines, 
and the absence of true scales, is distinguished by the following osteological characters, 
according to Professor Cope: 
“‘Parietals and supraoccipital confluent; four anterior vertebra ossified, an ossicula 
auditus, no mesopterygium. Basis cranii and pterotic bone simple; no coronoid bone. 
