226 CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



by beifig kept by force for any time underwater; it feems to have- but 

 OftG great bowel, running fronn the mouth to the vent, narrow^ at both 

 ends, and wide in the middle. The Lamprey's food is either flTme and 

 water, or fuch fmall water-infeds as are fcarce perceivable. Perhaps Its 

 appetite may be more adive at fea, of which it is properly a native. 



It quits the fea in the beginning of fpririg, in order to fpawn, and after 

 9. ftay of a few months it returns again" to the fea. Their preparation for 

 fpawning is by making holes in the gravelly bottom of rivers ; and on 

 ;5?j:S occafion their fucking power is particularly ferviceable ; for if they 

 meet with a flone of a confiderable fize, they will remove k, and throw jt 

 out. Their young are produced from eggsj the female remains near the 

 place where they are excluded, ^nd continues with them till they come 

 forth. She is fometimes feen with her whole family playing about her; 

 gnd after fome time fhe condu6ts. them in triumph to the ocean. But 

 fome have not fufEcient ftrength to return j and thefe continue in the 

 frefli water till they die. This fiib, according to Rondeletius, is very 

 ihort-lived, and two years is generally the limit of its exiftence. 



They are ufually taken in nets with f^lmon, and fometimes in baflcets 

 c.t the bottom of the river. It has been an old cuftom for the city of GIou- 

 ccftcr annually to prefent the king with a lamprey-pie j and as the gift 

 is made at Chriftmas, it is not without great difHculty the corporation 

 can procure the proper quantity, though they gjve a guinea apiece for 

 taking them. There are two or three fize's, rather than forts ; tha,t 

 failed the Pride of the Ifis, is not peculiar to that river, 



THE STURGEON. 



TH E Sturgeon in its general form refembles a frefh-water pike. The 

 nofe is long; the mouth is fituated beneath, fmall, and without 

 jaw- bones J always open in the dead fifti. The body is long, pentago- 

 nal, fiat below, and covered with five rows of large bony knobs, one 

 row on the back, and two on each fide; on the back a fingle fin near the 

 tail; which is bifurcated. Five other fins below. 



Of this fifh there are three kinds; the Common Sturgeon, the Caviar 



Sturgeon, and the Hufo or Ifinglals Fifh. The firft has eleven knobs or 



6 ' fca}Q^ 



