are bred in fresh water because they may be found in ponds having no connection with a river—­the proof required is ab ovo.  If we wait for this proof I fear we will have to wait for some time, for I fancy that no one but Mr. Boccius ever saw the ova of Eels, and he will not condescend to enlighten us on the subject.  At the same time I admit that finding them there is no proof that they were bred there, inasmuch as I have myself stocked such ponds for my friends, and what I have done may be done by others.

T. says further there is also room for inquiry into another curious subject—­do Eels return to fresh water after having gone to the sea for spawning?  In reply to this, I can only say, that no trace of such a migration is ever seen here, and I think if it existed at all, I should have observed it, for the following reasons.

The Ribble here supplies a large mill, the water-wheels of which are 150 horse-power; therefore, when they are at work in the daytime, the whole force of the river is often passing through the mill-lead (goit) and the bed of the river between the weir, and the tail goit in such times is left dry, except in a few pools.  If there was a shoal of Eels between these two points it would have been seen at one time or another, and this has never happened, so far as I know.  It may be said that they migrate singly, but they don’t do so in their first migration, and, so far as I am aware, it is not the habit of any animal to do so.  Herrings, Pilchards, Smelts, Flounders, Sturgeon, Bisons, Antelopes, Woodcocks, Swallows, Fieldfares, Locusts, and even Butterflies congregate together previous to migration.

NOTE.—­The last paragraph requires some modification, as I have since proved that Eels migrate singly when going to the sea, as I have had occasion to know in a hundred cases when watching my Eel-trap, where every Eel may be seen as it descends into the trap.

On the same subject.

I [Jeremiah Garnett, brother of the writer, and editor of the “Manchester Guardian,”] having noticed the communications on this subject which have recently appeared in your columns, am desirous of mentioning a fact which appears to me to throw some light upon the localities in which Eels are bred, though it leaves the question of the mode of generation precisely where it stood before.

Like your correspondent T. G., I have many times seen columns of small Eels ascending the Ribble and other rivers in the months of May and June, at considerable distances from the sea, but only on one occasion have I seen them under circumstances which evidently brought them near the place of their nativity.