170 FISHES AND FISHING. 



LAMPETRA MAJOR. The lamprey eel is sometimes 

 taken in eel pots ; I have seen them taken from 

 one to three pounds weight, in the river Lea. In 

 the Severn they are much larger, having been taken, 

 it is said, three feet in length, and five inches in 

 diameter ; this fish has no bones, but a gristle down 

 the back, full of marrow, which should be taken out 

 before it is cooked ; they are not considered whole 

 some food. They chiefly live in the sea, but come 

 into the rivers in March, and spawn in April, leaving 

 their brood in holes in the sand, where they are soon 

 endued with life, and in three months after become 

 from three to five inches long. Those which I have 

 seen were speckled very much like many of the snake 

 tribe, and from their appearance, I should never be 

 tempted to eat part of one. They are sometimes 

 caught with a worm, when angling for other fish. 



At Rodley, in Gloucestershire, there is a rent paid 

 to the Lord of the Manor, called " Pride-Gavel," 

 by some tenants, for the liberty of fishing for lam 

 preys, in the river Severn. 



The ancient philosophers asserted that the sea lam 

 prey formed a sexual union with the land serpent ; a 

 curious description of which is given by Oppian, and 

 also of the animosity which exists between the lam 

 prey and the lobster, and of the battles which take 

 place between them when they meet. 



