58 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



said to be rare, as far as present records go. About 30 have been 

 taken but once, as far as is authentically recorded. The type speci- 

 mens, of six, or perhaps seven, were taken in Rhode Island waters. 

 Twenty-four of these species are exclusively fresh-water fishes, 175 

 are salt water forms, thirteen of which are anadromous. One 

 species, the common eel, is katadromous, that is, it passes the greater 

 part of its life in the fresh water and comes down stream and enters 

 the ocean to spawn. 



PETROMYZOXID^. The Lampreys. 

 1. Petromyzon marinus (Linnajus). Great Sea Lamprey; Lamprey Eel. 

 Geog. Dist.: Atlantic coast of Europe and America, south of Chesapeake 



Bay. Common throughout New England and New York. 

 Migrations: Ascends fresh-water streams in spring to spawn. 

 Season in R. I.: Rare, sometimes caught in traps in Narragansett Bay, a 



few in Taunton River in spring. DeKay in 1842 described specimens 



from Providence. (De Kay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 381.) 



Ripe lampreys taken during the latter part of month of May, 1898, at 



East Taunton (Bumpus: 1898). 

 Reproduction: Spawns in fresh water in May and June, dying after the 



process. 

 Food: Parasitic on other fishes. 

 Size: Three feet. 

 References: 



1882: Goode, Bull. U. S. Fish Com. XVII, 349: 



1893: Gage, Lake and Brook Lampreys, Wilder's Quarter Century 

 Book, 421. 



1897: Surface, Bull. U. S. Fish Com. XVII, 209. 



1905: Jordan, Guide to the Study of Fishes, I., 498. 



GALEID^. The Requiem Sharks. 

 2. Mustelus canis (Mitchill). Smooth Dogfish; Switchtail. 



Geog. Dist.: Common south of Cape Cod to Cuba, and in southern Europe. 

 On the Massachusetts shore this species is occasionally taken as far 

 north as Salem. 

 Season IN R. I.: Very common from May to November. Small specimens, 

 one foot long and over, common from August through the season. June 

 5, 1906, Hazard's Quarry trap, half dozen specimens, one of which was 

 female with young. 



