Salmon are cured by being split, rubbed with salt, and put in pickle, in tubs provided for the purpose, where they are kept about six weeks: they are then taken out, pressed, and packed in casks with layers of salt.

Different species of Salmon come in so great abundance up the rivers of Kamtschatka, as to force the waters before them, and even to dam up the streams in such a manner as sometimes to make them overflow their banks. In this case, when the water finds a passage, such multitudes are left on the dry ground as would, were it not for the violent winds so prevalent in that country, assisted by the bears and dogs, soon produce a stench sufficiently great to cause a pestilence.

Salmon are said to have an aversion to any thing red, so that the fishermen are generally careful not to wear jackets or caps of that colour. Pontoppidan says also, that they have so great a dislike to carrion, that, if any happen to be thrown into the places where they are, they immediately forsake them.

THE COMMON EEL.

THE Common Eel evidently forms a connecting link, in the chain of nature, between serpents and fishes, possessing not only, in a great measure, the serpent form, but also many of their habits.

It is frequently known to quit its own element, and to wander, in the evening or night over meadows, in search of snails and other prey, or to other ponds for change of habitation. This will account for Eels being found in waters that have not been in the least suspected to contain them.

Mr. Aderon, in the Philosophical Transactions, says, that in June, 1746, while he was viewing the flood-gates belonging to the water-works of Norwich, he observed a great number of Eels sliding up them, and up the adjacent posts, to the height of five or six feet above the surface of the water. They ascended with the utmost facility, though many of the posts were perfectly dry, and quite smooth. They first thrust their heads and about half their bodies out of the water, and held them against the wood-work for some time. They then began to ascend directly upwards, and with as much apparent ease as if they had been sliding on level ground; this they continued till they had got into the dam above.

Of the migration of young Eels from one part of a river to another, an instance is related by

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Dr. Anderson, in his publication called the Bee, Having occasion (says this gentleman) to be once on a visit at a friend's house on Dee-side, in Aberdeenshire, I often delighted to walk by the banks of the river. I one day observed some. thing like a black string moving along the edge of the river in shoal water. Upon closer inspection I discovered that this was a shoal of young Eels, so closely joined together as to appear, at first view, one continued body, moving briskly up against the stream. To avoid the resistance they experienced from the force of the current, they kept close along the water's edge the whole of the way, following all the bendings of the river. Wherever they came into still water, the breadth of the shoal increased so as to be sometimes nearly a foot broad; but when they turned a cape, where the current was strong, they were forced to oceupy less space, and press close to the shore, struggling very hard till they passed

it.

"This shoal continued to move on night and day, without interruption, for several weeks. Their progress might be at the rate of about a mile an hour. It was easy to catch the animals, though they were very active and nimble. They were Eels perfectly formed in every respect, but not exceeding two inches in length. The shoal did not contain, on an average, less than from twelve to twenty in breadth; so that the number which passed on the whole, during their progress, must

have been very great.

Whence they came, or

whither they went, I know not. The place where this was observed was six miles from the sea, and the same phænomenon takes place every year about the same season."

The usual haunts of Eels are in mud, among weeds, under the roots or stumps of trees, or in holes, in the banks or the bottom of rivers. They are partial to still waters, and particularly to such as are muddy at the bottom. Here they often grow to an enormous size, sometimes weighing fifteen or sixteen pounds-One that was caught near Peterborough, in England, in the year 1667, measured a yard and three quarters in length.

When kept in ponds they have been known to destroy young ducks. Sir John Hawkins, from a canal near his house at Twickenham, missed many of the young ducks; and, on draining, in order to clean it, great numbers of large Eels were discovered in the mud. In the stomachs of many of them were found, undigested, the heads and part of the bodies of the victims.

Eels seldom come out of their hiding-places but in the night, during which time they are taken with lines that have several baited hooks.In winter they bury themselves deep in the mud, and, like the serpent tribe, remain in a state of torpor. They are so impatient of cold, as in severe weather eagerly to take shelter even in a whisp of straw, ifflung into a pond. This has

sometimes been practised as a mode of catching

them.

Eels bring forth their young alive. They are so tenacious of life, that no other fish whatever will live so long out of the water as these. They are best in season from May to July; but may be caught with a line till September. When the water is thick with rains, they may be fished for, during the whole day; but the largest and best are caught by night-lines.

THE HADDOCK.

HADDOCKS migrate in immense shoals, which usu ally arrive on our coasts about the middle of winter. These are sometimes known to extend, from the shore, nearly three miles in breadth, and in lengthnearly fifty miles. An idea of their numbers may be had from the following circumstance: three fishermen, within a mile of the harbour of Scarborough, frequently loaded their boat with them. twice a day, taking each time about a ton of fish. The large ones quit the coast as soon as they are out of season, and leave behind them great plenty of small ones.

The larger ones begin to be in roe in November, and continue so for somewhat more than two months from this time till May, they are reekoned out of season. The small ones are extremely