56 NATURAL HISTORY. 



pectoral fins rise up like two immense horns. It is 

 found in the southern seas, and is known to the sailors 

 as the Sea Devil. 



THE LAMPREYS 



Have elongated bodies, like worms ; the mouth is cir- 

 cular, something resembling a bowl, and armed with 

 several ranges of small teeth. 



The River Lamprey or Nine Eyes (petromyzon flu- 

 viatilis) is about a foot in length, and as thick as a man's 

 finger, and has many wrinkles in the skin, which is dark 

 green and silvery. Lampreys are found in all the muddy 

 brooks of Europe, but are particularly abundant in Eng- 

 land and north Germany, where they are taken in mil- 

 lions. They are eaten raw, or broiled ; or, preserved 

 with spices and vinegar, are sent abroad as an article of 

 commerce. Those taken in winter are so superior that 

 no one will fish for them in summer. The Courland 

 lampreys are considered the best. They feed on worms, 

 water insects, fish roes, and decayed flesh. 



The Sea Lampreys (petromyzon marinus), plate 20, 

 fig. 4, are more than two feet long, and as thick as eels ; 

 are marbled yellow and white. These fish have the ex- 

 traordinary power of attaching themselves so closely to 

 solid bodies that a twelve pound stone to which they may 

 be suspended by suction, can be raised easily with them. 

 They are found in all the seas, but more abundantly in 

 the eastern and northern. They ascend the rivers in 

 spring, which is their time for spawning ; their flesh is 

 then very good, but after May is not fit to eat. They 

 are eaten broiled, as eels, but are also marinated and sent 

 abroad. They are more rare, and on that account dear. 



