THE LUMP-SUCKER AND THE LAMPREY. 331 



destruction. We are entitled to regard the sucker 

 in this particular instance as a compensation 

 which makes up for want of greater activity and 

 power. The spawn of the lump-sucker is de- 

 posited among rocks and seaweed within low- 

 water mark, and the male fish is said to watch 

 the spawn after its exclusion until the young fry 

 are hatched, when the latter instantly employ 

 their suckers by fixing themselves on the sides 

 and back of their parent, by whom they are carried 

 into deeper water. We may truly consider the 

 mechanical apparatus with which this fish is 

 furnished as one of those innumerable instances 

 with which the wise and beneficent Creator has 

 provided for the safety of some of the humblest 

 of his creatures. 



There are other fishes which are provided with 

 " suckers," constructed on precisely the same 

 principles as that of the fish now mentioned, but 

 apparently employed for different purposes. One 

 of the most remarkable of these is the lamprey 

 (Petromyzon marinus), specimens of which fall 

 under our notice on various parts of the English 

 coast much more frequently than on the shores 

 of Scotland and Ireland. This fish has an eel- 

 shaped body, and is from two to three feet in 

 length; its colour is a yellowish-brown marbled 

 with a dusky hue. It is, like the salmon, a 

 migratory fish, passing a portion of the year in 

 the sea, and entering the rivers in spring for the 

 purpose of spawning. The remarkable peculiarity 

 in its structure is the mouth, which is circular, 



