fS On the Petromyzon Marinus, 



on it after ft had been hooked ; if before, it would indicate an 

 extraordinary insensibility to pain in an animal that could 

 attend to the calls of appetite, whilst another was preying on 

 its vitals. The fish which had fastened on the pollack, was the 

 petromyzon marinus, or sea lamprey. It was nearly three feet 

 long, and resembled a large eel in shape. Its general colour 

 was a dull brownish olive variegated with bluish blotches ; the 

 back darker, and the belly paler, inclining to yellow. The eyes 

 were small, and the mouth large and oval ; but when distended, 

 circular. The inside of the jaws was deeply concave, and 

 studded with circular rows of sharp triangular teeth, that issued 

 from corresponding orange-coloured papular protuberances, 

 which formed the gums ; the tongue was short and crescent- 

 shaped, furnished with a row of very small teeth round the 

 edge. On the top of the head was a small orifice, or spout-hole^ 

 from whence it discharged the superfluous water taken at the 

 mouth. But the circumstance that more particularly distin- 

 guished it, was that which gave rise to the vulgar error that it 

 had sixteen eyes. On either side of the neck, commencing just 

 below the real eyes, was a row of seven equidistant spiracles 

 exactly resembhng eyes ; they are, however, holes lined with a 

 red membrane, and all opening into the mouth, an apparatus 

 to supply the place of gills, whose functions are to extract 

 oxygen from the water, and so perform the office of lungs in 

 aquatic animals. It had two dorsal fins, one on the lower part of 

 the back, narrow, with a roundish outline ; the other commencing 

 where the first termin.ated. The spine was cartilaginous, without 

 processes. The pericardium, containing a small heart, was a re- 

 markably strong membrane, and the liver was as green as grass. 

 This fish is not uncommon in the North Seas, though it most 

 abounds in the Mediterranean, where, from earliest times, it was 

 esteemed a luxurious dish. Fish-ponds were purposely con- 

 structed to preserve it. On our coast, Pennant observes, that it 

 is found most frequently at the mouth of the Severn, which river 

 it sometimes ascends, where it is occasionally taken, firmly 

 attached to a stone by its mouth, while its tail and body are 

 waving freely to the current. Its adhesion at such times is so 

 strong, that it may be lifted with a stone of twelve pounds 

 weight appended to its mouth. This faculty is owing to its 



