to do them serious injury. Mr. Jesse mentions a habit which implies the union of much sagacity with voracity, and reminds us of the device of the gregarious wolves in North America, which surround a herd of bisons or deer, and gradually force them to a precipice, that, being compelled to leap down, they may be killed; after which the crafty pursuers descend and feed upon the bodies at their leisure. "A large quantity of Eels have been observed, in one of the Cumberland lakes, to form a circle round a shoal of small fish in shallow water; and after driving them to the shore, they readily caught and fed upon them. I have observed the same thing take place in the canal in Hampton Court Park."[1]
The excellence of these fishes is well known. Immense numbers are consumed in London and other large cities; principally supplied by the Dutch. One or more Dutch boats constantly lie off Billingsgate; others run back to Holland for fresh supplies, each bringing a cargo of 15,000 to 20,000 pounds weight of live Eels.
Family XII. Syngnathidæ.
(Pipe-fishes.)
Peculiarities of structure and form, of economy and manners, render this Family, though small both in extent of species and individual dimensions, one of very great interest. Their bodies are long and slender, with the muzzle produced into a tubular snout, just as in the Fistulariadæ among the Acanthopterygii, whence, like
- ↑ Jesse's Scenes of Country Life, 351.
