Page:British Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fresh-water Fishes.djvu/95

EEL to be removed wholesale before the water was freed. When they make their first appearance from the sea, the young are almost thread-like, and one imagines that it must be several years before the adult state is reached. They are often found inhabiting isolated lakes and ponds, and one wonders how, unless artificially introduced, they come to be there unless, as seems proven, they have the power of making their way overland. If this is so, it seems strange that field naturalists so seldom meet with the Eel when engaged upon such journeys. They are very fond of tenanting water that has for its bed a thick

deposit of mud, and it is stated that during Winter they remain concealed there in a torpid condition. Frozen water certainly does not affect them, indeed I have myself seen Eels taken from a solid block of ice which have at once shown signs of activity when immersed in tepid water. It is mostly a nocturnal-feeder, as is proved by the number that are caught on Eel-lines and traps put out at night. But that it also feeds during the day is evidenced by the number caught by anglers on the Norfolk Broads and elsewhere. The Eel is a ravenous feeder, and when once it is on the feed a number are likely to be secured. They are often on "the run" during, or after, a thunderstorm, the reason apparently 77