THE LAMPREY. 187 



attains to the length of twenty-five or twenty- 

 six inches. 



The lamprey has from early times been 

 regarded a delicacy for the table ; the potted 

 lampreys of Worcester are celebrated . Henry I. , 

 surnamed the Beauclerk, who, as Rapin says, 

 was exceedingly regular in his diet, and " never 

 known to be guilty of any excess in eating or 

 drinking," excepting on the occasion which 

 fatally terminated, brought on his illness, as it 

 is said, by partaking too immoderately of a 

 dish of lampreys, a fish of which he was very 

 fond. 



The colour of the sea-lamprey is olive-brown, 

 marbled with a dark green and dusky brown. 



There is a smaller species, termed the river 

 lamprey, or lampern, (Petromyzon fluviatilis,) 

 about twelve or fourteen inches in length, of a 

 bluish colour above, passing into white beneath, 

 which is a permanent resident in many of our 

 rivers, and those of Scotland and Ireland. 

 Formerly this fish was taken in enormous 

 quantities in the Thames, as many as one 

 million or twelve hundred thousand having 

 been captured in a single year. Numbers were 

 sold to the Dutch fishermen as bait; Mr. Yarrell 

 says, that four hundred thousand have been 

 sold in a single season, at the rate of forty 



