LIFE HISTORY OF THE EEL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1348, 10 April 1883, Page 3

LIFE HISTORY OF THE EEL.

(Land and Water.).,- ' ' 'To the naturalist it is always interrestujg toihear. tii4t a ;life history. Itas been worked out, or that some badly understood points in the life of what we may call nature's. puzzles have been;cleared up, and few: puzzles have afforded such scope for guess work and ' Speculation's the . life history of the eel. V From the time of tie Greeks the reproduction of the eel has been a stumbl-ing-block t6 naturalists, and manyof the old theories aro interesting from their crudeness. ■ Thusaccording to Yarrell, we find that Aristotle thought they sprang from mud.' Pliny had an idea thatfragments of the skin of the' parents rubbed off against the rocks developed' into young ones, while' Heluiont giveß the following; curious recipe, by which they may be manufactured in large quantities"Out up two turfs covered with May dew, and lay one upon, the other, t'ie grassy sides inwards, and then expose them'to the: heat of the sun; in a few hours there will spring up an infinite quantity of eels." ; Horsehair from the tail of a stallion was a never-failing source of young ■eels,"'

A more recent .authority (Gunthsr, in his introduction to Study of Wishes) gives the following account of their reproduction:— . "Theirmode of propogationis unknown. So much only is certain, that they do not spawn.in fresh water, that many full-grown-individuals, but' not all, descend rivers during the winter months, and that some of them spawn in brackish water, or in deep water in the sea, For in the course of the summer, young individuals, Bin to sin ascend rivers in incredible numbers, overcoming all obstacles, ascending ..vertical walls or floodgates, entering every larger or smaller tributary, and making their way even over terrafirma to water shut off from all communication with rivers, Such immigrations have long been known by the name'of eel fares."

.j 'l'hese 6el fares have been seen in the Thames about Kingston and Teddington, and in the year 1833 it was calculated at the former place that they passed up the river at the rate of sixteen to eighteen thousand a minute, The word itself is an old one, being of Saxon origin, and signifying to travel, being connected with our words thoroughfare, and the well-known cab term of" fare,"

According to the most recent utterances on the subject, contained in the bulletin of the United States Pish Commission, it appears that the eel is oviparous like other fish, but that it only spawns once in its lifetime, a peculiarity it shares with the lamprey, and this process takes place in the sea. The males are smaller than the females, are confined to the sea or brackish water—at least this seems most probable, though it cannot bo said to be established, for the proportion of male to. female fish rapidly decreases with the distance from the Sea. When the young are hatched they ascend the rivers as described above,-and reach .the inland streams and ponds, where they grow in size but never increase in. numbers. ..

Every farm animal should be provided with an abundance of pure water, Small ponds, sloughs and spring holes are not fit to furnish water to any kind of domestic animal. If a slough must exist in a pasturo, it should be fenced in, and. thus remove the temptation for swine and cattle to drink from it, More animals die from disease induced by filthy water than is generally supposed. A running spring, with clean surroundings, is a most valuadle feature upon a farm, Other sources of water are a never-failing well, then come the well-kept cistern, the running brook, the lake, and the large pond,.

Birmingham lost in January one ot its veteran . reformers : in Mr James Guest, who. has died at the advanced age of 78 years, Guest' claimed to be ,■ the first man who sold an unstamped newspaper in Birmingham. In 1831 ho and five others were sent to Warwick Gaol for selling unstamped papers. Mr Guest remained there for three months,. treated as a common felon. When he first commenced business as a newsvendor Birmingham had only two newsvendors' shops, and the sales of stamped and unstamped papers were less than 7000 a week, ' In the province of Biscay a landowner must plant two saplins for every timber-tree- he cuts* down. In I Java the birth, of "every child is celebrated by planting a fruit tree, which is I carefully tended as the record of the . age of the child whose birth it registers. The yise regard for the futyre deserves imitation,

.It is reported that Caen Wood Towers,. Highgate, has been purchased oil behalf of Ishfliail Pasha,' the exKhedive of Egypt; for £9,0,000, Caen Wood Towers is a house, of Elizubethan • design, •and is ' surrounded by about 12 acres of admirably laid out grounds. Mr- Edward Brooke, J.P., the former proprietor, expended large sums, upon the embellishment of the house, and all its appointments are.,on a scale of magnificence, It' is said, that the gentlemen who negotiated the the sale in the firjt instance purchased at £40,000 and resold the property,on the following;, day ,to the agents of Ismail'Pasha for £90,000. ■■ 1 A; Merchants','Museumhas been opened aVßrussels, in which specimens of raw materials and; manufactures of i all countries, are,exhibited.'. The classifi-, cation of this inost useful institution' is such that the visitor can not only see the origon of each' specimen; but .also trace its industrial value to tfie end; ' t and;,for this:purpose, -his inquiries,: are facilitated by an information . Bureau, wheroali facts" can be obtained . res-, pecting the chaffer;; uses,' and .cost; of each sample., same oflSce ara plans:and specifications sof all contracts arid'" improu'ementSj -and 'atr ,tached'toitiaa J library:replet©-■with technological works, catalogues of 1 .jure, i andji such pother informationi'of l museiam is inder, the. control Ihe Minister of Foreign Affairs, .