CHONDROPTERYGII. 659 



of Europe, especially in Italy, and the story of the death of 

 our first Henry, which is imputed to over-eating, either of this 

 species, or the Jluvialis, will occur to every one. There is a 

 fashion even in epicurism, and at present a taste for lampreys 

 seems quite out, or at least to be confined to the vulgar 

 appetite. 



The River Lamprey P. Jluvialis, L. has the second dorsal 

 fin angular, and united to that of the tail. The disk, or rather 

 the circumference of the mouth, is furnished with a single row 

 of very small teeth ; in the interior of the mouth is another 

 row of six very small teeth, and on each side are three emar- 

 ginated teeth. Near the entrance of the mouth, in front, is 

 a thick crescented bone, and behind it an elongated bone, 

 placed crosswise, and furnished with seven small points; farther 

 off is a second bone cut also into seven points, and finally, 

 at a greater depth is a tooth or cartilaginous piece. 



This fish, which seldom exceeds eighteen inches in length, 

 has the head greenish, the fins violet colour, the back blackish, 

 and the sides approaching to straw colour; the belly is 

 silvery, and there are small transverse undulated stripes on 

 the back ; there is also a whitish or reddish patch near the 

 neck. . 



It passes the greater part of the year, and especially the 

 winter, at the bottom of the deepest rivers, lakes and ponds, 

 but in spring, like its congener of the sea, it proceeds up the 

 streams, &c. to deposit its spawn, and it is at this season that 

 they are most commonly caught, and appear in our markets, 

 exposed to the wondering gaze of the multitude under the 

 strange name of nine eyes, the more strange when we consider 

 that the circular branchial openings called eyes, are but seven 

 on each side. 



Of the subdivision Heptatremus, which contains at 

 present but a single species, Petromyzon cirrhatus, Forst. Gas- 

 trobranche dombey, Lac. we shall merely observe, in addition 



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