196 



SMALL LAMPREY 



in wicker weels from October to March or April, about which time they spawn ; nothing 

 more is seen of them after that time. In order to get rid of the mucus the fish are placed 

 in hot water in a vessel and whisked about with a bunch of straw ; they are then put in 

 cold water for a short time, and are ready for stewing or potting, under either of which happy 

 conditions they are most delicious food, even rivalling the white-fleshed Eel in richness of 

 flavour. The ordinary price for fresh Lamperns is about ten shillings a hundred. 



The River Lampern lives on the larvse of insects, worms, and according to Bloch the flesh 

 of dead fish. The ordinary adult size of the Lampern is about a foot in length ; when first 

 out of the water the back and sides are of a pretty uniform brown, with a tinge of olive 

 or green on the upper part of the head and back; the belly is pure white. "The maxillary 

 tooth is single, forming a transverse ridge with a cusp at each end; mandibulary tooth 

 single, crescent-shaped, with about seven cusps. Tongue with a broad, transverse, trenchant 

 tooth, which is provided with a median cusp. Two 'or three bi- or tri-cuspid teeth on each 

 side of the gullet; the other teeth of the suctorial disc are small and not numerous. First 

 dorsal fin separated from the second by an interspace. Colouration immaculate ; sides silver)'." 



Sub-class 

 CrCLOSTOMATA. 



Family 

 PETR OMYZ ONTID^^. 



^MALL «;AMPREY, -pRIDE, ^ANDPRIDE, 

 #LANER'S BaMPREY. 



{Pctromyzon hraiichialis.) 



(i.) Larval Form. 



Lampetra ccEca sen oculis carens, 



Eitihlindcr, Neiinogen, 

 Petromyzon corpore atinuloso, 

 Petromyzon hranchialis. 



Pride Lamprey, 

 Ammocatcs hranchialis. 



Mud Lamprey, 

 (2.) Mature Form. 

 Petromyzon plancri. 



Petromyzon sanguisuga, 



WiLLUGHBY, Hist. Pisc. p. 107, tab. G. 3 fig. I. 



Artedi, Spec. Pisc. p. go, No. 3. 



CuviER, R. An. ii. p. 406; Lin., Syst Nat. i. p. 394; Lacep., i. p. 26, 



pi. 2, fig. i; TuRTON, Brit. Faun. p. iio. 

 Pennaxt, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 107, pi. x. fig. 3, ed. 1812. 

 Flem., Brit. An. p. 164; Jenyns' Man. p. 522; Yarrell, ii. p. 609; 



Parnell, Fish. Firth of Forth, Mem. Warn. Nat. Hist. Soc. vii. p. 447. 

 Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 404. 



Block, Fisch. Deutschl. iii. p. 47; Lacep., i. j). 30, pi. 3, fig. i; 



Jenyns' Man. p. 522; Yarrell, ii. p. 607; Siebold, Siisserwasserf. 



p. 375 (Kleines Neunauge); Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 402, pi. 248, 



fig. i; Gunther's Cat. viii. p. 504. 

 Lacep., ii. p. loi. 



A LTHOUGH this little Lampern is too small to be of any commercial value, it is 

 -^^^ peculiarly interesting in a zoological point of view, because it is the species in which 

 Professor Aug. Miiller first demonstrated that the individuals of this genus undergo a meta- 



