Fuller on the derivation of the Isle of Ely is too quaint to omit: “When the priests of this part of the country would still retain their wives in spite of what Pope and monks could do to the contrary, their wives and children were miraculously turned into eels, whence it had the name of Ely. I consider it a lie.” That Ely is derived from the abundance of Eels taken there has the ancient authority of _Liber Eliensis_ (II. 53). J. B. Johnston, _The Place-Names of England and Wales_ (London, 1915), p. 250, takes _Ely_ to mean the “eel-island.” He adds, however, that Skeat regarded _Elge_, Bede’s spelling of the name, as “eel-region,” the second element in the compound, _ge_, being a very rare and early Old English word for “district” (cf. German, _Gau_). Isaac Taylor, _Names and Histories_ (London, 1896), _s.v._ Ely, states that rents were there paid in Eels. [602] Care must be taken to distinguish between the Eel, ἔγχελυς, of the Greeks, _Anguilla_ of the Romans, and the so-called Lamprey, μύραινα, or _Muræna_. Although both belong to the large family of _Murænidæ_, the _Muræna_ is usually a much smaller fish, seldom over 2½ feet long. In shape and general appearance it closely resembles the Eel, but can be differentiated by its teeth and certain spots over the body. It becomes very corpulent, so much so that in late life it is unable to keep its back under water: it is easier to flay, and whiter of flesh than its relative. Apart from its mating with the viper, and its tendency (_teste_ Columella) to go mad, its chief characteristics are greed and fierceness of attack. The second book of Oppian has two really spirited pictures of its fight with, and conquest of, the Cuttle fish, and of its rush at, but eventual defeat by, the Lobster. At Athens the Eel, at Rome the Muræna, was the favourite. [603] Menand., Μέθη, _frag._ I. 11 ff., _ap._ Athen., 8, 67. [604] Archestratos, _ap._ Athen., 7, 53. [605] Eubul., _Echo._, _frag._ 1, 1 f., _ap._ Athen. 7, 56. [606] Aristoph., _Ach._, 883. See F. M. Blaydes’s note on 880 ff. [607] Eubul., _Ion_, _frag._ 2, 3 f., _ap._ Athen., 7, 56. [608] Aristoph., _Ach._, 894. _Pax_, 1014. [609] Bk. 7, 53. [610] Bk. VII. 53. [611] Philetær., _Oinopion, frag._ 1, 4 _ap._ Athen., 7, 12. [612] Badham, _op. cit._, 392.