The Lake and Brook Lampreys of New York 459 



From observations on the lampreys in flat sided, glass jars, and 

 by experiments in allowing them to fasten to the hand, the pro- 

 cess of attachment appears to be as follows : The oral disc is 

 quite widely expanded and pressed suddenly against whatever 

 the lamprey wishes to fasten to. Almost instantly the mouth 

 is somewhat arched and any water that may be present drawn 

 into the bronchus. The circum-oral fringe of papillae with 

 the continuous fold of mucosa bordering the fringe, serves to 

 fill any irregularities and make the contact, air and water 

 tight, so that upon lessening the pressure within the mouth 

 the adhesion becomes very perfect. So perfect is it, that such a 

 hard scaled and vigorous fish as the ganoid, Aviia calva, can 

 rarely prevent the attachment and adhesion although the most 

 violent efforts are made. If they are attached to stones of 

 moderate size, the stone is frequently brought out with the 

 lamprey if the animal is jerked up suddenly. In letting go 

 its hold all that is necessary for the lamprey is to fill the disc 

 with water from the respiratory bronchus, whereupon suction 

 ceases and the animal is free. In feeding, the sharp teeth 

 pressed against the skin of the animal to which it is attached, 

 naturally calls the blood to the place. This hypersemia is 

 caused even more by the suction. At the same time the piston- 

 like tongue with its powerful muscles and the saw-like teeth 

 soon rasps a hole through the skin. The blood is then sucked 

 from the fish and swallowed. The whole operation is some- 

 thing like the extraction of blood by a leech. The lamprey 

 may remain upon a fish so- long as it supplies sufficient nutri- 

 ment. Sometimes the fish becomes exceedingly pale and 

 weak so that it floats near the surface. In such a case, the 

 fishermen know immediately that there is a lamprey attached 

 to the fish, and, with a dip net, usually have no great trouble 

 in catching both. The birds of prey also make this their op- 

 portunity and frequently carry off" the floating fish, the lamprey 

 sometimes remaining attached until it has been carried a con- 

 siderable distance into the air. 



According to one intelligent fisherman, who has spent near- 

 ly fifty years by the lake, some of the fishes, when a lamprey 

 attacks them, will rise to the surface and turn over on the 



