L AM ! A -L A M P H K V. 



** Anthohii, feeding on sap or the nectar of flowers; 

 maxilla with membranous lobes. 



8. Glaphiiridce, MacLeay (Anf/iobii, Latreillej; 



mandibles concealed under the elypeus, 

 corneous, labrum exserted ; probably biting 

 the petals of flowers. 



9. Cetoniidd'. Mac Leay ( ^LflitopJiili, Latreille) ; 



mandibles concealed under the elypeiis, 

 membranous ; labruni covered by the 

 clypens ; sap or honey feeders. 

 10. Rutdidte, MacLeay ( Xi/'/op/ii/i. p. Latreille) ; 

 mandibles porrected, corneous ; habits 

 unknown. 



LAMIA (Fabricius). A very extensive and hand- 

 some genus, or rather sub-family, of coleopterous 

 insects belonging to the section Tetramera, and sub- 

 section Loiigicorncs (Cerambi/.v, Linn.), having the 

 labrum visible, extending across the entire breadth of 

 the head ; the jaws of moderate size, and alike in 

 both sexes ; the outer lobe of the maxillae narrowed 

 at the tip, and bent over the internal lobe ; the eyes 

 always notched and the head always vertical, with 

 the face flattened. Latreille and Serville introduce 

 into this sub-familv, which thev named Lamiar'ue, 

 the genus Snpcrdri, and many Fabrician Staiucoru.*. 

 And in the Auuales de la Societe Entomologiqne de 

 France, for 1885, is given an entire revision of the 

 whole sub-family, wherein no less than fifty-three 

 generic groups are described. So little is, however, 

 known or described by authors beyond merely struc- 

 tural details, that it would be useless to give a list of 

 the names of these groups without their characters, 

 and these latter would not enter into the plan of our 

 work : we must therefore refer to our article CERAM- 

 BYX, wherein we have treated of these insects with 

 reference to their more general characters and habits 

 in conjunction with the Cerambycida. 



LAM1UM (Linnueus). A genus of European an- 

 nual and perennial herbs, commonly called archangel. 

 The flowers are didynamous, and belong to the La- 

 bialfe. A few of the annual species are admitted into 

 the flower garden, but the generality are worthless 

 weeds. 



LAMPADIA. A genus of molluscs established 

 by de Montfoit and now united to that of Le nticulina. 

 They are microscopic shells, and from that cause 

 frequently undiscovered. 



LAMPREY ( Petromyzon, that is, stone-sucker, 

 from the habit of the fish in attaching itself to stones 

 by means of its mouth). A genus of cartilaginous fishes 

 with fixed gills, of which the following are the leading 

 characters. There are seven gill openings on each side, 

 on which account the lamprey is sometimes vul- 

 garly designated the " nine eyed eel." The skin on 

 the upper and under part of the body is elevated or 

 produced into a sort of ridge, which to a certain 

 extent serves the purpose of a fin ; but it has little or 

 nothing of the structure of a true fin, there being 

 scarcely any traceable fibres in it ; to say nothing 

 of regular rays such as those which are found in the 

 fins of more characteristic fishes ; but that very flexi- 

 bility of the skeleton, arising from the absence of 

 salts of lime to which the absence of distinct bones 

 and jointed articulations is owing, contains in itself a 

 good deal of compensating power, by enabling the 

 animal to bend its body readily, and thus turn the 

 -sive flexures into which it is bent into a means 

 of progressive motion through the water, which, 

 though not so rapid as that of those fishes which gain 



a momentum at once, is far less fatiguing in the per- 

 formance. It is highly probable too that the breathing 

 by means of fixed gills is a much less laborious ope- 

 ration than breathing with gills which are free, and 

 which require the constant use of a complicated 

 muscular apparatus. The particular mode of breath- 

 ing in the lamprey, and indeed in the whole family 

 Ci/cJoxtonnts, "round mouth" that is, having the 

 mouth formed into a real sucker, by means of which 

 the animals can adhere to that on which they feed, 

 and feed at the same time is not very well under- 

 stood in the whole of its details ; for though it is 

 not probable that the respiration is suspended always 

 when the animal thus adheres, yet it is not easy 

 to see how a circulation of water, so as to bathe the 

 branchial appendages in the walls of the cells, can be 

 carried on. Lampreys, however, live both in the sea 

 and the fresh waters, and are very tenacious of life. 

 There are one or two species, and probably there 

 may be more of fishes which are so obscure in many 

 of their habits. 



THE LAMPREY, OR SEA LAMPREY (P. marimts), is 

 found in the seas of all the temperate parts of the 

 northern hemisphere-, and to a considerable distance 

 eastward in the Mediterranean ; but it does not reach 

 the seas of the Greek peninsula. Whetherthe current 

 of cold water which sets southward from the Black 

 Sea, and which, during the melting of the snow on 

 the southern Alps is also rolled down in great 

 volume by the Po, may prevent the appearance in 

 those seas of a fish whose sense of temperature is 

 understood to be delicate, it is not easy to say ; 

 and, indeed, the physical causes of the geographical 

 distribution of fishes are matters of which we know 

 but little. It is found on the shores of Spain, France, 

 and England, and those of Europe as far north as 

 Norway. It is also found on the opposite shores of 

 America, and in the northern part of the Pacific. The 

 lamprey grows to the length of at least three feet. Its 

 motion very much resembles that of a serpent, only 

 it is more in the horizontal plane, and the body of 

 the fish is remarkably light and flexible. The skin 

 is soft and covered with a viscous secretion, and by 

 many the flesh is highly esteemed. Those who are 

 most recherche in this fish, and it has been a favourite 

 with epicures for a very long time, consider it as in 

 highest condition when the fish begins to ascend the 

 rivers for the purpose of depositing its eggs. The 

 Romans, during the progress of that excessive and 

 un philosophical luxury which ended in their down- 

 fall, were particularly fond of this fish ; and in the 

 spring, when it was first found in the mouths of the 

 rivers, a lamprey of moderate si/e used to sell in 

 Rome for ten pieces of gold. The skeleton of the 

 lamprey, which is a very rudimcntal cartilaginous 

 imitation of a vertebral column, shows some remark- 

 able seasonal changes. When the animal begins to 

 ascend the rivers, it is so gelatinous and soft as to be 

 hardly distinguishable ; hut when the lamprey has 

 been for some time in the fresh water, the skeleton 

 becomes a much more firm cartilage, and loses the 

 transparency which it had at the first, when at the 

 same time the flesh has degenerated very much in 

 quality. 



THE RIVER LAMPREY (P. fiuriatilis], is a smaller 

 species than the former and abounds in the fresh- 

 water lakes and rivers of the northern countries ; 

 though it is not very clearlv ascertained whether it 

 in every situation migrates beween the fresh waters 



