FISH—THE EEL.

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they live. In the island of the Mauritius , near the centre,there is a lake of about a mile in diameter, of very clearwater and about eighty feet deep, it is the crater of anextinct volcano. The eels with which this lake abounds are inthe same predicament as those of the lakes Albano, and Nemiwhich I have just described. They consequently grow toan enormous size, and are often caught in their attempt toquit the lake, by crawling into the little rills, occasioned bya rise of the water. In the year 1827, an eel was taken inthus endeavouring to change its abode which measuredthirteen feet in length, and two feet in circumference. Itsweight I do not know. The person who made this captureI presented it to the Honourable Arthur Cole, brother to SirLowry Cole, then Governor of the island.

The question as to whether the eel be oviparous or vivi-parous, has long been a matter of uncertainty and disputeamongst naturalists ; I do not know to which opinion themajority at present incline, or whether any competentauthority has decided the question, through the demonstra-tion of facts. However, I can speak with certainty on thecontroverted point; but I must defer this disquisition until| it will appear in the proper course of my narrative.

! Amongst the wild animals which excite the attention ofthe sportsmen as well as of the salesmen in the fnarkets ofRome, the porcupine, the wild boar, and the brown deer,are those which are least known in England; these threeanimals are all found in the same description of cover.That is, the Maremme of both the Mediterranean andAdriatic coasts of Italy . One general description ofthese Maremme , or maritime lands, will suffice for thewhole. ~~

With the exception of several minor branches of the Ap-penine mountains, which from Geona to Porto Venere ,in the neighbourhood of Gaeta, at Naples, Amalfi, Salerno ,