388 SEA LAMPREY. 



that instead of Marinis, (living in the sea,) we should read 

 Murrcnis rivals to the Mursence; in which case the comparison 

 will have become appropriate, and the identity of Pliny's fish 

 with the Burbolt is rendered more probable. 



This sort of Lamprey is often taken in the sea at a considerable 

 distance from land, but the largest number obtained in salt 

 water are of a size far below what they are accustomed to 

 reach. And the peculiar circumstances under which they are 

 thus caught have a reference to some of their remarkable 

 instinctive habits, and especially offer an explanation of the 

 use of the curious formation of the mouth, and of the orga- 

 nization which is fitted to the singular manner in which the 

 function of breathing is carried on. The structure of the 

 mouth we shall by and by describe; but for the present we 

 observe that when the mouth is open it forms an expanded 

 disk, round the deeper portion of which there is a characteristic 

 arrangement of rasping teeth, which teeth the fish has the 

 power of bringing into contact with any surface on which it 

 chooses to lay hold. By an exhausting action, through which 

 the air and water are removed, a vacuum is produced, and 

 thus the fish becomes fixed without any further action of 

 muscular effort. The bottom of a ship or boat is frequently 

 the object to which it attaches itself; and a fisherman has 

 informed me that he has seen it advance and overtake a boat 

 that was sailing at good speed, in order, to fix itself on the 

 rudder. 



It becomes then a question what is the intention it has in 

 thus affixing itself to an inanimate substance, which it does 

 so firmly that all the strength a man can exert is often unequal 

 to the task of removing it. The intention may be no more 

 than to relieve itself from further exertion in swimming, but 

 it also may be with the hope of feeding on the flesh of an 

 animal for which it has mistaken the ship, according to what 

 we know of its propensity under other circumstances, of which 

 we shall produce some individual instances; but it is affirmed 

 by Rondeletius that it is also with the intention of feeding 

 on the pitch with which the ship has been payed or coated, 

 and for which it has been supposed to feel an appetite. 

 Such at least was the opinion formerly entertained by the 

 fishermen of Marseilles, and, strange as it may appear, a 



