Q2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



me, 1 find no mention made of this species hanging to its prey in 

 the manner to which I have referred. If this habit is as common 

 as it seems to me to be, both from my own observation and from 

 the boatman's report, it is remarkable that no notice has been 

 taken of it, particularly as this fish is as well known, and has had 

 a great commercial interest in some places. It is said the Thames 

 alone supplied from one million to twelve hundred thousand 

 Lamperns annually. The only passage I find bearing directly 

 on the point at issue is by Yarrell, when speaking of the food of 

 the Sea Lamprey {Petronryzon marinus); he says, "it consists 

 generally of soft animal matter, and in the sea it is known to 

 attack other fishes of large size by fastening upon them, and by 

 its numerous small rasp-like teeth, eating away the soft parts 

 down to the bone." This suggests the inquiry whether the 

 Lamprey occupies itself with the prey that it has taken till it 

 entirely consumes it, or whether, like the Otter, it only takes the 

 choice part, and again renews the hunt for another fresh and 

 savoury repast. 



That they do betake themselves to dead fish is favoured by a 

 statement of Bloch's, where he says, " The food of the fresh water 

 Lampern is insects, worms, small fish, and the. flesh of dead fish." 



It is not improbable, the assertion that its food is occasionally 

 dead fish, may have arisen from the occurrence having been 

 noticed of its holding on to the newly-killed prey. The facts that 

 came under my own observation, so far as they go, appear to 

 show that the Lampern does not feed on the dead bodies of fish 

 till they are all consumed. The abrasions on both the Powans 

 I found on the loch were only about the size of the sucking mouth 

 of the Lampern, and to a small depth, with no visible deviation 

 of encroachments of the holes either to one side or another. 

 Even the statement that was made of the Sea-Lamprey, with "its 

 small rasp-like teeth, eating away the soft parts down to the bone," 

 gives no indication of the consumption of the whole fish, but 

 rather that of tapping an opening from which the juices of the 

 animal might be withdrawn. The whole mechanism of the 

 mouth, with the rasp-like tubercules or teeth and suctorial lips, 

 point in that direction. 



I give these facts and suggestions in the meantime, in the hope 

 that they will elicit something more bearing on the subject from 

 some of our members. 



