re I can give an unqualified belief to the
assertion, I should like to have a few questions answered by Mr.
Boccius. Who saw the fish from which those thousands of eggs were
extracted at the time this dissection was made? Are the parties
who saw these eggs quite certain that the fish was an Eel and not
a Lamprey? Who saw the eggs from which Mr. Boccius produced living
Eels? Who beside Mr. Boccius ever saw Eel-fry in a pond which had
no communication with a river? Will Mr. Allees and Mr. Reed (the
gentlemen to whom the spawn was exhibited) say whether the ovary
which was shown to them was pretty much of the same form as that
of the Lamprey? and if not, in what respect did it differ?

I am induced to ask these questions, both because by inference
they show my own opinions on the subject, and because I am led on
undoubted authority to believe that Mr. Boccius is inclined to
claim at _least_ all that belongs to him; and also because I have
my doubts about the scientific attainments of Mr. Boccius in the
Natural History of Fishes.

It is difficult to prove a negative. My never having seen the
strange things above mentioned certainly does not prove that other
people with better eyes and more discrimination have likewise
failed to do so; but I can't help doubting, and I publish my
doubts in the hope that the subject may be further inquired into.
A true naturalist ought only to wish for the truth, without
reference to his own preconceived notions; but so far as my
examinations have gone, I have failed altogether to detect spawn
in the fringes which I have fancied were the ovaria of the fish,
or elsewhere, and I don't believe that Eels are bred in fresh
water at all. I see the fry ascending from the sea in May and June
by thousands and millions, but I never met with one of these in a
pond having no communication with a river. I have little doubt
that I shall be pronounced in error touching this matter, except
perhaps by those who know how perseveringly these little Eels make
their way up every stream, ditch, and driblet of water into which
they can gain access. They penetrate into the water-pipes and
pumps; they climb up the perpendicular faces of the rocks and
weirs which obstruct the course of the rivers, even when they are
only moist--adhering to the moss and stones like snails.

The downward migration of Eels is observed here from July to the
middle of September, but in the Manchester market I find them up
to this time