SEA LAMPREY. 891 



of wicker work, which are also employed; because in the latter 

 they bruise themselves in their struggles to get free. 



In remote times of our history this fish was held as of 

 great value, and there are instances in proof that it was once 

 deemed a favourite dish at the table of kings. The death 

 of Henry the First was caused by his having indulged too 

 freely in a dish of potted Lampreys; and a single one of tliese 

 fish was thought a not unfitting present to be sent by King 

 John to the Earl of Chester; Avho acknowledged the honour 

 by the present in return of a good palfrey. It was an old 

 custom for the corporation of the city of Gloucester to present 

 to the reigning sovereign a pie of Lampreys yearly; but it 

 appears that this custom has ceased to exist; an end probably 

 having been put to it on the occasion of the passing of the 

 Reform Bill. In the last century also a j^ie of Lampreys was 

 sent by the corporation of the same city to the Prince of 

 Wales. 



As this species of Lamprey enters rivers for the purpose of 

 spawning, in the spring, this is the season of its highest per- 

 fection; but immediately after the shedding of the roe so great 

 a change takes place, that they are not only weakened and 

 emaciated, but it has been believed that death is commonly 

 the result. But that this last supposition at least is not correct, 

 appears from the fact, that while in May, twelve months 

 perhaps from their birth, they are often found not to exceed 

 six or eight inches in length, and when a little larger at that 

 season are clearly pregnant with enlarged spawn, examples are 

 not uncommon which measure thirty inches in length; and 

 which therefore we may conclude to have experienced the 

 growths of several seasons, and consequently to have passed 

 through more than one or two of those in which their spawn 

 has been deposited. 



The method of proceeding by which a procreant bed is 

 prepared for the reception of this treasure, affords an insight 

 into another use to which the sucking faculty of the mouth 

 can be applied. Both sexes unite in preparing the ground at 

 the bottom of the river, by excavating a trench; and as in 

 doing this it shall happen that stones of considerable size may- 

 lie in the way, the mouth is employed in the labour of grasping 

 and removing them, so that the grains of roe may be covered 



