by a humble fishermen of La Bresse, has indeed given new life to the continental fisheries: but the art of breeding and protecting fish was known long before the days of Remy, the French discoverer. In Italy, there has existed for upwards of two-hundred years, a vast fish-preserve, which yields a large annual return for the labour and capital expended upon it. We propose to show by what has been done at Comaccio (the name of the preserve indicated), in the breeding of eels, what might be achieved in England, in the way of constructing remunerative fish ponds.
All places exclusively devoted to fishing communities have a strong dash of the quaint or romantic about them; the fisher-folk seem to thrive under conditions of growth which would appear harsh and repulsive to landsmen, and the inhabitants of Comaccio are no exception to the rule. Indeed, their means of life and the strict discipline to which they are subjected, seem a little more than romantic, bordering somewhat on slavery. The population of the Lagoon, or rather of its islands, amounts to 6661, and the whole of the inhabitants are connected with the fishery, or with the salt-manufactory, which is carried on for its benefit. The people are remarkably clannish, are devout Catholics, and, like most fisher-communities, hold little intercourse with the world beyond them. A great number of the men employed in the fishery live in a barrack, and dine at a common table, the staple of their food being a pound and a half of eels, or other fish, per diem.
The Lagoon of Comaccio is situated on the coast of the Adriatic, between the mouth of the river Po and the territory of Ravenna, about forty-four kilomètres from Ferrara. The water is dyked out from the sea by a narrow belt of land, and forms an immense but shallow lake, nearly 150 miles in circumference, and from one to two metres in depth. Two rivers, the Reno and the Volano, form this vast swamp into a species of delta, similar to that formed by the Rhone at Comargue. They skirt the edge of the marsh from south to north, and descend to the sea, where their mouths form two distinct harbours, distant about twenty kilometres from each other, while between these two harbours lies that of Magnavacca, which gives the place its principal communication with the sea. M. Coste, in his tour of exploration, is most particular in describing this place, and takes great pains to detail fully the hydraulic apparatus of canals, sluices, &c., which have been constructed for the better regulation of the fishery. As we desire to be practical, we shall follow the example of Coste, and detail as succinctly as we can the history and apparatus of the place, so that persons desirous of speculating in an eel-pond may know what to provide.
The Lagoon of Comaccio, bounded by the two rivers we have named, and at one time giving complete access to the waters of the Adriatic, offered very favourable conditions for conversion into a field for the artificial propagation of fish, the meeting of the fresh and salt-water forming an excellent basis for such operations. It was a great waste marsh, totally unproductive, when its first inhabitants decided upon establishing themselves there. Abandoned to their own resources, they resolved to explore and cultivate the waters of the sea, as agricultural labourers explore and cultivate their fields. This was a mere experiment two centuries ago; but such experiments are again being tried, and the successes achieved in eel-culture at Comaccio prove them to be practical. What led the ancient Comaccians to the breeding of eels was their knowledge of that particular instinct which causes certain species of fish to migrate, and which in particular causes the young eels to ascend into rivers and lakes in innumerable legions some time after they are hatched, and to descend again to the sea when sufficiently grown to incur the dangers of the journey. It is a curious feature of fish-life that about the period when eels are on their way to the sea, where they find a suitable spawning-ground, salmon are on their way from the sea up to the river-heads to fulfil the grand instinct of their nature; namely, reproduction.
The periodical migrations of the eel can be observed in all parts of the globe, and they take place, according to the climate, at different periods from February to May; the fish frequenting such canals or rivers as have communication with the sea. The myriads of young eels which ascend would almost transcend belief; they are in number sufficient for the re-population of all the waters of the earth, if there were protective laws to shield them from destruction, or reservoirs in which they might be preserved to be used for food as required. The inhabitants of Comaccio, seeing the advantages which would result from a systematic cultivation of the young fish, set about constructing throughout the lagoon a series of canals and reservoirs in order to aid them in securing the eels at the time of their ascent from the Adriatic. To effect this they dug out in many places large holes through the natural dyke which separated the lagoon from the two rivers forming its sides. Over these open trenches they erected bridges, and to these they joined strong sluices, capable of being put in play by a handle or screw. These sluices again were provided with gates, which opened to let in the seed, or young fish, and closed again as soon as it was distributed in the basins. They also press into their engineering department twenty currents, which mingle the brackish waters of the lagoon with those of the rivers Reno and Volano. The waters of the Adriatic perform their part in these operations, and are conveyed into the lagoon by means of the canal of Magnavacca, where it is joined to a great basin of sweet water, the Mezzano; the whole being incorporated into the vast hydraulic apparatus of Comaccio. This canal, which is not less than 10,000 mètres in length by, 6 or 7 in breadth, and furnished to the right and left over all its course with branches, dividing and subdividing themselves, but never diminishing in size, distributes the waters of the Adriatic in any part of the lagoon where they may be required; but in general, the branches are directed towards the principal islands with which the lagoon is studded, in order that the mouth of each of these might be encased in one of the rectilineal trenches which cut the island from end to end. Thus their extremities, open at the end of these trenches, assisted
