The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-10-24
ABOUT EELs.
Queer Facts Concerning Mystic
riOus Animal.
Why tho Fish Commissioner Docs Not
Glvo Away Their Eggs-Somo In
tcresting Things Learned by
Scientists.

Az " conSiSnIncnC OF CclS' eggs where
with to stock Il pond or stream. The
request is invariably refused, not be-
cause there is any intention to be DISC
bliging, but for the reason that nobody
in this world knows whether cells lay
eggs or not. If they do man has mover
bcheld them, and to get hold of any is
quite out of the question. In case you
want to establish cells in your water
preserves you can buy young ones by
the pailful Mt cheap rate, and they
will grow big enough to cat or send to
the market within three years.
1t may fairly be said that the eel, as
to its breeding, is the most mysterious
animal in existence. The New York
Sun says its method of propagation has
puzzled science for centuries, and has
been subject of moro or less supersti-
tious speculation among many people
for thousands of years. The ancient
Egyptians had their own theories re-
specting the matter. Some authorities
have commended that cells grow up from
horse hair, which in some strange man
ner became vitalized. Others have held
that they were generated sponta-
ncously from slime, while others still
have gravcly advanced the belief that
they came from the skins of old
cells, or similar cXuvi,p of water snakes.
That cells mate with water snakes is
very generally accepted Us truth. Most
popular among people who get their liv-
ing from the water, however, is the
theory that cells arc the progeny of va
rious other fishes. The Sardinian fish
crmcn assert that they arc produced by
certain kind of water beetle, which
for this reason is called "mother of
ecls." The Greek poets who fathcred
all children otherwise unaccountcd for
upon Jupiter, declared that this god was
the progenitor of the eel
All this mystery about the eel. as
science has learned in the last few
years, is due to the fact that it laws its
eggs or brings forth its young alive in
the sea, where no one has a chance tn
observe the process. Other fishes like
the shnd, leave the ocean to spawn in
fresh water streams, but this curious
and slippery customer does precisely the
reverse. The young cells, newly born
Or Matched, leave the salt water and
make their way in armies up the rivers
inland. Obstacles apparently ins,u-
mountablc they use the utmost ingcnu-
lty IN passing, even travelling consider
able distances on dry land in order to
get around an obstruction. In the
spring and summer any visitor at Mag
ara Falls who descends beneaththe great
sheet of water ut the foot of the falls
will see literally hundreds of carloads
of small cells wriggling over the rock
and squirming in. the whirlpools OF
course it Is impossible for them to get
over the falls, and thus it happens that
although cells have always been plenti-
full in Lake Ontario there were none in
Lake Erie until they were planted in
the latter body of water artitic1ally.
lnasmuch as cells must go to the sea
in order to propagate their species
they arc found not to multiply at all
when placed in ponds that are land
locked although in such places they
Will grow rapidly and be healthy. It
costs SO little to purchase young ones
by the Quantity that this is no obstacle
to the usefulness of stocking inland
waters with these fish. They have
many very important advantages from
the economic point of view, inasmnch
as they will feed on anything dead or
alive. will thrive in water clear or mud
dy and at any temperature, and will re-
quirc no looking out for. However, in
rivers like the Susquehanna, where
gill-nets are used, cells arc very undo
sirablc. 1t Is not unusual, upon hauling
the nets in that stream and others
farther south, to find that the catch has
been entirely eaten up by myriads of
the squirming robbers, which have left
little beside heads and bacEboncs. 1t
has been found advantageous by the
fish commission to plant cells in the up
per great lakes and the Mississippi
They have also been introduced very
successfully IN California.
In all probabilities cells lay eggs, lust
rs do nearly all other fishes. The only
difference is that they deposit them in
the sea, instead of in fresh water. 1t is
believed that the mother eel dies soon
after she has spawned. For a couple
of centuries past efforts have been
made by eminent scientific men to dis
cover the organs of generation in male
and female cells. 1t is only possible
now to discover the difference between
the sexes by microscopic examination
About fifteen years ago the celebrated
DIR. Virchow, of Berlin, published an
advertisement for n female eel bearing
eggs, offering n considerable prize for
the specimen. Within short time the
advertisement was copied all over
Europe, and the Herr Doctor received
such enormous quantities of cells in
packages that the affair became quite
serious. 80 many thousand pounds OF
the very pcrishablc article were con-
signed to him that it was IN important
question how to get rid OF the material,