342 CHONDROPTERYGII. LAMPREYS. 



eyed eels. Dr. Pamell, Sir William Jardine, and 

 Dr. Johnson have found it in different Scottish 

 rivers; Mr. Yarrell in many of those of England, 

 and Mr. Thompson in those of Ireland. 



Gen. CXXIII. Ammoccetes. — Of this generic 

 group, established by Dumeril, Cuvier remarks that 

 the species have all the parts which ought to con- 

 stitute the skeleton so soft and membranous, that 

 they may be considered as having no bones what- 

 ever. Their general form, and the exterior aper- 

 tures of the branchias, are the same as in the 

 lampreys, but their fleshy lip is only semicircular, 

 and merely covers the upper part of the mouth ; 

 they cannot, therefore, fix themselves to objects 

 like the lampreys, properly so called. No teeth are 

 perceptible, but the aperture of the mouth is fur- 

 nished with a series of small branched cirri. 



(Sp. 251.) A. hranchialis. Pride, or Mud Lam- 

 prey. A small fish from six to eight inches in 

 length, and about the thickness of a swan's quill. 

 It buries itself in the mud, and is not rare in such 

 of the English rivers as have a muddy bottom. It 

 has also been observed in the Forth and Tweed, as 

 well as in some of the Irish rivers. The origin of 

 the English name will be seen from the following 

 extract from Blount's Tenures, as given by Mr. Yar- 

 reU in the Appendix to the second volume of his 

 British Fishes, " Rodeley^ County of Gloucester. — 

 Certain tenants of the manor of Rodeley pay, to this 

 day, to the lord thereof, a rent called Pridgavel, in 

 duty and acknowledgment to him for their liberty 



