LAMPERNS LOACHES. 63 



some directions, in a letter, to what particulars the 

 engraver should be attentive 1 . 



Finding, while I was on a visit, that I was within 

 a reasonable distance of Ambresbury, I sent a ser- 

 vant over to that town and procured several living 

 specimHas of loaches, which he brought, safe and 

 brisk, in a glass decanter. They were taken in the 

 gulleys that were cut for watering the meadows. 

 From these fishes (which measured from two to four 

 inches in length) I took the following description : 

 " The loach, in its general aspect, has a pellucid 

 appearance ; its back is mottled with irregular 

 collections of small black dots, not reaching much 

 below the linea lateralis, as are the back and tail 

 fins ; a black line runs from each eye down to the 

 nose ; its belly is of a silvery white ; the upper 

 jaw projects beyond the lower, and is surrounded 

 with six feelers, three on each side ; its pectoral 

 fins are large, its ventral much smaller; the fin 

 behind its anus small ; its dorsal fin large, con- 

 taining eight spines ; its tail, where it joins to the 

 tail fin, remarkably broad, without any taperness, 



1 The manner in which the common lamprey, petromyzon 

 marinus, and the lesser species, commonly known as lam- 

 perns, form their spawning-beds, is curious. They ascend 

 our rivers to breed about the end of June, and remain 

 until the beginning of August. They are not furnished 

 with any elongation of jaw, afforded to most of our fresh 

 water fish, to form the receiving furrows in this important 

 season ; but the want is supplied by their sucker-like mouth, 

 by which they individually remove each stone. Their 

 power is immense. Stones of a very large size are trans- 

 ported, and a large furrow is soon formed. The lampreys 

 remain in pairs, two on each spawning place, and while 

 there employed, retain themselves affixed by the mouths to a 

 large stone. The patromyzonftuviatilis, or river-lamprey, and 

 another small species which I have not determined, are gre- 

 garious, acting in concert, and forming, in the same manner, 

 a general spawning bed. W. J. 



