680 Queries and Answers, 



torn in such a way, as convinced me it was a conjunction of the sexes. 

 However, there were so many of them together, and they kept so con- 

 tinually moving about, that I could not single out the two individuals, and 

 thus ascertain whether they were male and female : but I felt so desirous 

 of being able to set this question at rest, that I went again next morning, 

 and was fortunate enough to find only two, a male and a female. I then 

 witnessed several sexual conjunctions, during which the sand and small 

 gravel was stirred up with them, and each of which was followed by the 

 ejection of a jet of eggs from the female. I then caught them both, and dis- 

 sected them : the sexual organ in the male was projected above a quarter 

 of an inch, and the body filled with milt ; the female, although she seemed 

 to have already shed a considerable quantity of her spawn, had still a 

 tolerable stock remaining. I frequently afterwards witnessed the same 

 thing, and always found the same difference of sexes ; in fact, there was 

 generally no difficulty in distinguishing this difference : without taking them 

 out of the water, the female might readily be known by the enlargement of 

 her body, and the male by still more incontestable tokens. 



I have been induced to describe this more minutely than I otherwise 

 should have done, in consequence of the mystery in which the propagation 

 of fish has been hitherto wrapped; and I am not aware that what I have 

 here described has been witnessed by any one before ; at least, I do not 

 know that it has been recorded. 



I caught half a dozen lampreys, four males and two females, and pre- 

 served them in spirits j and these I now forward to you. 



Concerning the large lamprey, I am unable to give the same information, 

 having never seen it in the act of spawning ; but I have repeatedly caught 

 both milters and spawners of this species, with the milt and roe as dis- 

 tinctly visible in them as it is in the salmon or any other fish. 



I am of opinion that the P. fiuviatilis and the P. marinus are distinct 

 species, for the following reasons : — 1st, Because the former stays with 

 us the whole year, whilst the latter only ascends the rivers to spawn, and 

 then immediately returns to the sea ; 2d, Because fish which are in the 

 habit of descending to the sea never (unless the small lamprey be an 

 exception to the general rule) arrive at maturity until they have visited 

 it; and, 3dly, Because there are no intermediate sizes (at least in the 

 Kibble) between the one which, although only 6 in. or 7 in. long, and half 

 an ounce in weight, is yet capable of propagation, and the one of a pound 

 weight. Not having one of the larger kind to refer to, I am unable to point 

 out any specific difference of form. — T. G. Clitheroe, Lancashire, May 2. 

 1832. 



The specimens sent are, as described, four males and two females, of 

 the Petromyzon fiuviatilis of LinncBuSy called by the Thames fishermen 

 the lampern, to distinguish it from the P. marinus Lin.y which they call 

 the lamprey. It seems desirable here, to add what has been recorded else- 

 where, by late observers, on the subject of the distinction of the sexes in 

 the lamprey and lampern ; since Baron Cuvier, in the first volume of the 

 Histoire Naturelle des Foissons, 1828, p. 534., depending on the observations 

 of others, repeats the statement of the hermaphroditism of the eel and the 

 lamprey, and appears to consider the occurrence of a single male lamprey, 

 noticed by MM. Magendie and Desmoulins, as accidental. 



In the 45th volume of Constable's Miscellany, devoted to a reprint of 

 White's History of Selborne, Sir Wm. Jardine, the editor, among other valu- 

 able additions appended as notes, has the following, at the foot of p. GQ. : — 



"The manner in which the common lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), and 

 the lesser species commonly known as lamperns, form their spawning beds, 

 is curious. They ascend our rivers to breed about the end of June, and 

 remain until the beginning of August. They are not furnished with any 



