BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 349 



NOTES ON THE I- A 71 PRF V M-S» E J ICOll YZON HIKE. 



By G. BROWN GOODS. 



In the fresh and brackish waters of the United States occur several 

 species of the lamprey family. 



The habits of this group of fishes are not well understood, and in the 

 present discussion we shall be obliged to rely to a considerable degree 

 upon the observations of European zoologists. In the United States 

 these fishes, of whatever species, are generally known as "lampreys" and 

 "lamper-eels," these names being also in use in England, where one of 

 the smaller species, P. branchialis, is also known as the " pride," "prid," 

 or "sandpiper." The name "nine-eye" is also common in England, a 

 name which reappears on the continent in the " neun-tiuge" and " neun- 

 augel" of Germany and Austria, and the "nejon ogon" of Scandinavia. 

 This curious name has its origin in the eye-like appearance of the circu- 

 lar branchial openings, of which a considerable number appear on either 

 side of the head. In the common "nine- eye" of England, however, 

 there are really only seven, and, even if the eye be counted, only eight 

 eye-like circles upon each side. In Germany the name most commonly 

 in use is "pricke" or "bricke," while in France "lamproie" is their 

 usual appellation, and in Italy "lampreta." 



The lampreys are among the lowest and least specialized of fishes; 

 although in form resembling the eels, they belong to a very different 

 group, which, by Gill and others of our best authorities, has been con- 

 sidered a distinct class, and are not even entitled to be called fishes. 

 So slight has been the progress in the scientific study of the lampreys 

 that but little can be definitely stated about their geographical distri- 

 bution, excepting that they occur in the fresh waters and along the 

 coasts of the temperate regions of both hemispheres. The largest and 

 best known species, and the only one which has at present any com- 

 mercial value, is Petromyzon americanas, by most authorities believed to 

 be identical with the P. marinus of Europe,* which occurs in the streams 

 and estuaries of our eastern coast from .Nova Scotia as far south at 

 least as Cape Hatteras. 



The key to the habits of the lampreys is found in the peculiar arrange- 

 ment of their great suctorial mouth. In P. marinus, according to Emile 

 Blanchard, this is completely circular, and forms a great sucker enor- 

 mously capacious, surrounded by a fleshy lip studded with tentacles 

 and supported within by a cartilaginous framework. This mouth is 

 covered over its entire interior surface with strong teeth, arranged in 

 concentric circles — some single, others double — the larger occupying 

 the central portion, and the smaller forming the exterior rows. A large 



* Giinther's Catalogue FiBhes of the British Museum, 8, p. 501. 



