CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 273 



pect, th* -wo red glands, tissued with nerves, which he cku-cribes as 

 lying towards the back of the head, are no other than the lungs of 

 this animal. The absolute necessity it is under of breathing in the 

 air, convinces me that it must have Jungs, though I do not know of any 

 anatomist that has described them. 



The adhesive quality in the lamprey may be in some measure in 

 creased by that slimy substance with which its body is all over smear 

 ed ; a substance that serves at once to keep it warm in its cold ele- 

 ment, and also to keep its skin so'ft and pliant. This mucus is sepa- 

 rated by two long lymphatic canals, that extend on each side from the 

 head to the tail, and that furnish it in great abundance. As to its in 

 testines, it seems to have but one great bowel, running from the mouth 

 to the vent, narrow at both ends, and wide in the middle. 



So simple a conformation seems to imply an equal simplicity of ap- 

 petite. In fact, the lamprey's food is either slime and water, or such 

 small water insects as are scarcely perceivable. Perhaps its appetite 

 may be more active at sea, of which it is properly a native; but when 

 it comes up into our rivers, it is hardly perceived to devour any thing. 



Its usual time of leaving the sea, which it is annually seen to do in 

 order to spawn, is about the beginning of spring; and after a stay of 

 a few months it returns again to the sea. Their preparation for spawn 

 ing is peculiar; their manner is to make holes in the gravelly bottom 

 of rivers; and on this occasion their sucking power is particularly 

 serviceable; for if they meet with a stone of a considerable size, they 

 will remove it and throw it out. Their young are produced from 

 eggs in the manner of flat fish ; the female remains near the place 

 where they are excluded ; and continues with them till they come 

 forth. She is sometimes seen with her whole family playing about 

 her; and after some time she conducts them in triumph back to the 

 ocean. 



But some have not sufficient strength to return ; and these continue 

 in the fresh water till they die. Indeed the life of this fish, accord- 

 ing to Rondeletius, who has given its history, is but of very short con- 

 tinuance; and a single brood is the extent of the female's fertility. 

 As soon as she has returned, after casting her eggs, she seems ex- 

 hausted and flabby. She becomes old before her time; and two years 

 is generally the limit of her existence. 



However this may be, they are very indifferent eating after they 

 have cast their eggs, and particularly at the approach of hot weather. 

 The best season for them is the months of March, April, and May; 

 and they are usually taken in nets with salmon, and sometimes in bas- 

 kets at the bottom of the river. It has been an old custom for the 

 city of Gloucester, annually to present the king with a lamprey pie ; 

 and as the gift is made at Christmas, it is not without great difficulty 

 the corporation can procure the proper quantity, though they give a 

 guinea apiece for taking them. 



How much they were valued among the ancients, or a fish bearing 

 some resemblance to them, appears from all the classics that have 

 praised good living or ridiculed gluttony. One story we are told of 

 this fish with which I will conclude its history. A senator of Rome, 

 whose name does not deserve being transmitted to posterity, was fa- 

 mous for the delicacy of his lampreys. Tigelinus, Maiucius and ai 1 



