LAMPREY. 389 



a cosmopolite. The common eel is very abundant in 

 the eastern waters, particularly low down in the larger 

 streams or rivers, but it also ascends the mountains to a 

 great height, small ones being occasionally found in the 

 last rivulets of the springs. They say the eel 7 spawns in the 

 ocean, and never in lakes and rivers. The journeys from 

 the estuaries of the ocean to the summits of the mountains 

 must be full of adventure, and the biography of an eel 

 would, no doubt, be the record of a varied experience. 

 Leaving the "salt and slimy sea," however, for the pure 

 and limpid streams of the mountain, is certainly excel- 

 lent taste in the eel family, and the philosophy of the 

 migrations of the Anadrom is a revelation of the infallible 

 wisdom of instinct In the clear, cold fresh waters of the 

 large streams, this fish grows to an enormous size ; the flesh 

 is white, fat, and of delicious flavor. The habits of the 

 family are well known. 



Family SUCTORII, or PETROMYZONID^E.. 

 PETROMYZON fluvialis, (?) Americanus. The lamprey is 

 rather a rare fish, living in the larger streams, and never 

 found high up in the mountain. It is peculiar, and its habits 

 and organization are an interesting subject to the naturalist. 

 Dekay enumerates three species of Petromyzon, two small, 

 one large, which he calls the sea lamprey. The lamprey of 

 the Juniata River is a large eel, and would fill his descrip- 

 tion of the sea lamprey or Americanus. 



33* 



