Farini, through a sheet
of plate-glass, must be profound and interesting.
In England itself, on the other hand, we have at least one kind of fish
which exemplifies the opposite or migratory solution of the dry pond
problem, and that is our familiar friend the common eel. The ways of
eels are indeed mysterious, for nobody has ever yet succeeded in
discovering where, when, or how they manage to spawn; nobody has ever
yet seen an eel's egg, or caught a female eel in the spawning condition,
or even observed a really adult male or female specimen of perfect
development. All the eels ever found in fresh water are immature and
undeveloped creatures. But eels do certainly spawn somewhere or other in
the deep sea, and every year, in the course of the summer, flocks of
young ones, known as elvers, ascend the rivers in enormous quantities,
like a vast army under numberless leaders. At each tributary or
affluent, be it river, brook, stream, or ditch, a proportionate
detachment of the main body is given off to explore the various
branches, while the central force wriggles its way up the chief channel,
regardless of obstacles, with undiminished vigour. When the young elvers
come to a weir, a wall, a floodgate, or a lasher, they simply squirm
their way up the perpendicular barrier with indescribable wrigglings, as
if they were wholly unacquainted, physically as well as mentally, with
Newton's magnificent discovery of gravitation. Nothing stops them; they
go wherever water is to be found; and though millions perish hopelessly
in the attempt, millions more survive in the end to attain their goal in
the upper reaches.
Pages:
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376