A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



high as the Chatsworth waters, but in smaller 

 numbers than formerly, probably on account 

 of the polluted state of the river below Derby. 

 A fine eel taken near Norbury weir weighed 



5 f Ib. Mr. G. M. Day (Trans. Burton Nat. 

 Hist. Sac. 1896, p. 1 1 6) states that six large 

 sacks have been filled with eels in one day 

 from a trap at Drakelow weir near Burton. 



GANOIDS 



28. Sturgeon. Adpenser sturio, Linn. 



An occasional visitor to the Trent, but less 

 frequently than formerly. The earliest re- 

 cord of its appearance exists in the Annals of 

 Burton Monastery under date of 1255. 'In 

 this same year, in the waters of the Trent 

 near Donington Castle, about the time of the 

 Ascension of our Lord, there was taken a fish 

 called a Sturgeon, eight feet in length ; the 

 old people of those parts affirming that a 

 similar fish was taken in the same place the 



year before King John was crowned.' * In 

 1791 one was caught at King's Mills 7 feet 

 long (Stebbing Shaw's Hist, of Staffordshire, 

 i. 90). ' Recently one of a good size has 

 been taken at Shardlow ' (Glover, Hist, of 

 Derbyshire, 1829). In 1838 another was 

 taken at King's Mills about 8 feet long (J. J. 

 Briggs, Zool. 1843, P- 3 2 3)- Sturgeon still 

 occasionally visit the Trent a large one was 

 seen several times near Newark in June 1899 

 but appear not to ascend the river so high 

 as formerly. 



CYCLOSTOMES 



29. Sea Lamprey. Petromyzon marinus, Linn. 

 An occasional visitor to the Trent in 



former times. The only recent record of its 

 appearance is that of Mr. E. Brown, who in 

 the Addenda to his ' Fauna of Burton-on- 

 Trent ' (Nat. Hist, of Tutbury, p. 229) states 

 that a living specimen, about 2^ feet long, 

 was brought to him in June 1863, captured 

 in the Dove. 



30. Lampern. Petromyzon fluviatilis, Linn. 

 Seven-eyed Eel (Glover). 



Lamperns ascend the Trent in very large 

 numbers for spawning purposes, especially in 



the spring, attaching themselves to the stones 

 in the river bed. In Glover's time they also 

 made their way up the Derwent. 



Mr. E. Brown (Zool. 1843, P- 2I2 ) re- 

 cords the finding of over twenty lamperns in 

 a burrow of the brown rat in a potato field 

 near Burton. 



31. Sand Pride. Petromyzon branchialis, Linn. 



Nine-eyed Eel (Glover). Locally, Nine- 

 holes. 



Common in the Dove and its tributaries ; 

 said to occur also in the Trent, and recorded 

 by Glover from the Derwent. 



Annales de Burton (Suard, 1864), 336. 



in. 



