THE LAMPREY. 231 
evlour is generally a dull brownish olive, clouded with yellowish- 
white variegations; the fins are tinged with dull orange, and the 
tail with blue. The Marine or Sea Lamprey inhabits the ocean, 
but ascends the riversin spring. Though capable of swimming 
with considerable vigour and rapidity, it is more commonly seen 
attached by the mouth to some large stone or other substance, 
the body hanging at rest, or obeying the motion of the current. 
Its power of adhesion is so great that a weight of more than 
twelve pounds may be raised without forcing the fish to quit its 
hold. Like the eel, it is remarkably tenacious of life, the head 
strongly attaching itself for several hours to a stone, though by 
far the greater part of the body be cut away from it. The 
lamprey is still considered as a delicacy; every schoolboy 
knows that King Henry I. died of an indigestion caused by 
this favourite dish ; and the town of Gloucester still sends every 
Christmas a lamprey-pie to Queen Victoria, such as it was wont 
to offer to its sovereign in the days of the Plantagenets and 
Tudors. 
The Myxine, Glutinous Hag, or Borer, bears a near resem- 
blance to the lamprey, but 
stands upon a much inferior 
degree of organisation, having 
no eyes—(the sole example 
of blindness among fishes), and 
a still softer skeleton, so that, 
when boiled, it almost entirely 
dissolves into mucus. Jn the lamprey and myxine, the 
branchial cells, which admit water, are lined by the delicate 
membrane through which the blood is aérated. In the former, 
however, the external apertures of the branchial cells are placed 
on the side of the neck; while in the myxine, which feeds on 
the internal parts of its prey, and buries its head and part of 
its body in the flesh, the openings of the respiratory organs are 
removed sufficiently far back to admit of the respiration going on 
while the animal’s head is so inserted. Thus, even in this lowest 
and meanest of all vertebrate animals, we find a remarkable 
adaptation of its construction to its wants, and the proof that it 
has been as well taken care of by its Creator as the highes* 
organised creatures of its class. 
One of the most remarkable orders of fishes is that of the 
Ree 
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