368 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



lampreys to the reigning Sovereign every year. This may have been the 

 case many years ago, but I could not verify it from inquiries made by 

 myself some few years since in the city. 



The food of P. marinus is chiefly soft animal substances. It is said to 

 have been known occasionally to kill fish by fastening on to them with 

 its powerful sucker, and grinding its way into the flesh till stopped by 

 the bone. This is most unlikely to occur, however, except in the cases 

 of very lethargic fish. 



The skin of this lamprey is smooth, and its colour of olive brow^ 

 mottled and spotted with darker green and brown ; its fins occasionally 

 present an inclination to reddishness, and are usually of a lighter brown 

 than the surrounding parts. The irides are golden yellow. 



This fish swims in a very peculiar and quaint manner when it meets 

 with very rapid streams. It gets along for no other expression can do 

 justice to its style of movement with a series of jerks, but when in 

 slow or stagnant water no especial peculiarity is observable. The pro- 

 gression, however, is very much less graceful than that of the eel. 



The lampern, or P. fluviatilis. This fish is much better known in the 

 Thames, the Severn, the Dee, and the Tweed than either of its confreres. 

 Whilst the others are only to be found running in fresh water at a parti- 

 cular season, Tarrell states it as his certain belief that these fish may be 

 taken from the Thames at any time during the year. I cannot agree 

 with him, because, except in the autumn or early winter, I have never 

 taken the fish. That so careful and reliable an observer did not speak 

 without some good reason, goes without saying, however, and I can but 

 leave the matter with the simple expression of the negative evidence 

 above given. In any case the lampern is in best condition from about 

 October to March. Formerly the lampern fishery of the Thames was of 

 very considerable importance. From Battersea to Taplow, they might be 

 taken at the time of which I speak fifty years ago though it is doubt- 

 ful if they are to be found now higher up than Chertsey or Penton Hook. 

 Teddington is the present chief place of capture, and really immense 

 quantities are now taken there in eel pots, and sold chiefly, I am told, to 

 Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell, for preserving. Formerly they were regu- 

 larly brought up by the Dutch as bait for turbot and cod. Yarrell states 

 that in one season alone as many as 400,000, at 40s. per thousand, have 

 thus been disposed of, and on occasions, when from growing scarcity or 

 other causes, they have risen in value, as much as from .5 to 8 per 

 thousand has been paid for them. At the height of the prosperity of the 

 fishery, as many as 1,200,000 fish have been taken in one season. The 

 tenacity of life possessed by the lampern rendered it a valuable bait, if 

 no other quality recommended it. The Dutch fishermen were able to keep 



