PETROMYZONTIDA. — III. ti 
ulary tooth) with 7 to 12 cusps. Color yellowish. L.10. Miss. 
Valley, Minn. to Kans. and La, (lchth. hirudo Girard.) (Lat., 
chestnut-colored.) 
5. P. concolor (Kirtland). Supraoral lamina bicuspid; teeth 
on disk all simple, and placed in about 4 concentric series ; infra- 
oral lamina with 7 cusps; head 74; with gills 42; 51 muscular im- 
pressions between gills and vent. Color bluish silvery, sometimes 
mottled ; a small bluish spot above each gill opening, — this found 
even in the larva. L.12. L. Erie to Mo. and N., acommon para- 
site on the Sturgeon and other large fishes. (P. argenteus Kirtland, 
not of Bloch.) (Lat., uniformly colored.) 
aa. Anterior lingual tooth with a deep median groove, and extending in an 
incurved point; dorsal fin divided. (Petromyzon.) 
6. P. marinus L. GreaAT SEA LAmprReEY. “ LAMPER EEL.” 
Supraoral lamina bicuspid; infraoral cusps 7 to 9; first row of 
lateral teeth on side of mouth bicuspid; the others simple; myo- 
commas, 64 between gills and vent ; males in spring usually with 
an elevated fleshy ridge before the dorsal. Color dark brown, 
usually mottled with blackish. L. 3 feet. N. Atlantic, S. to Va., 
ascending rivers to spawn, and permanently land-locked (var. wni- 
color, Dekay) in the lakes of W. and N. N. Y. The larva is blind, 
toothless, with a contracted mouth, in which the lower lip forms a 
lobe distinct from the upper. The eyes appear before the mouth 
is enlarged. (Eu.) 
In the spring the Lamprey ascends small brooks for the purpose of de- 
positing its spawn. They are then often found clinging to stones and clods 
of earth. Later in the season they disappear, and are seldom seen except 
when attached to some unlucky fish. They are rarely seen descending the 
stream, and “it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste 
away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; 
a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered 
with Shakespeare’s description of the sea floor.” (Thoreau.) 
