THE LANCELET. 569 



The Lancelet {Lmisett-Fish, L c. lancet-fish, S\v. ; 

 Lancetdanned Traivlemund, i. e. lancet-formed fibre- 

 mouth, Dan. ; JBrancMostoma lubricum, Costa ; Amphioxus 

 lanccolcdus, Yavr.), which was first noticed in 177Ji by- 

 Pallas, who looked on it as a worm, and as such classed 

 it under the name oi Liimbricus lanccolatus, is not so very 

 uncommon in the Bohus Skiirgard and the Cattegat, 

 though elsewhere in the Scandinavian seas it has not, I 

 believe, been hitherto identified. To judge by Yarrell's 

 figure, which he says is of life size, it must be fully three 

 inches long ; hut Kroyer seems to think that on the 

 Jutland coast at least it does not attain to more than two. 

 It dwells on a sandy bottom, but in a depth of water 

 which varies considerably, beina: at times found in ten to 

 twelve fathoms, and at others near the shore. It is said 

 that if this fish be jdaced in a tub of salt-water, with sand 

 at tlie bottom, it will eitber lie still for hours together, as 

 if dead, or it will so embed itself in the sand that only 

 the upper part of its body remains visible ; if disturbed, 

 it becomes lively, and casts itself hither and thither, or it 

 swims about the tub with a worm-like lateral motion. 

 Its food is believed to consist of microscopic animals. 

 Little or nothing is known to Northern naturalists 

 resjiecting the habits of this very singular little fish. 



