EELS AKD LAMPEKNES. 259 



fined in a clean stone pound, with from two to 

 tln-ee feet deptli of water, and a stream from tlicir 

 native river running through it, they coukl not, or 

 would not, relieve themselves of their spawn, and, 

 after a few weeks, they were sure to die. 



It would appear, from observations made by me 

 in the small brooks of the New Forest, and other 

 little streams which I have visited, that the 1am- 

 l^ernes ascend all the lesser water-ways which lie 

 at their command, and that they breed at a very 

 early age ; for I have seen them making places 

 for the reception of their ova, and moving and 

 carrying small pebbles for that purpose ; and the 

 parent fish, while so engaged, have been but from 

 three to four inches long. I have also, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Avon Tyrell, when, in comjDany 

 with Mr. Frederick Fane, in search of trout for 

 store, discovered a small sand-bank, mixed with 

 gravel and mud, perfectly full of little lampernes, 

 from an inch to two inches long, though neither 

 gamekeeper nor labourer in the vicinity ever saw, 

 to their knowledge, a lamperne breeding in that 

 little brook. 



As to the larger fish of this species, the lamprey, 



— of a surfeit of which, it is said, one of our royal 



s 2 



