466 



THE THORNBACK LAMPREY. 



microscope, to be covered with a net- work of vessels that are not only 

 extremely minute, but exquisitely beautiful. 



In all its habits the Thornback resembles the Skate, except as to the 

 time in which its offspring are produced. This is usually about me 

 months ot June and July ; during which time these fish are caught in 

 great numbers. 



OF THE LAMPBEY TRIBE. 



THE bodies of these fish are slippery and mucous. Three of the 

 species are inhabitants exclusively of fresh waters, and one only is 



known to frequeDt the 

 sea. They are all much 

 esteemed as food. So 

 tenacious are they of 

 life, that they will even 

 continue firmly attach- 

 ed, by their mouths, to 

 solid bodies, for some 

 time after they are cut 

 in half. They feed on 

 worms, insects, small 

 fish, and mud or 

 aquatic plants. 



THE TRUE AND LESSER LAMPREY. 



The surprising faculty of adhesion to solid bodies, possessed by 



these fish, arises from their 

 drawing up the middle of 

 their circular mouth, and 

 exhausting the air from 

 under it. The edges of the 

 mouth are thus pressed 

 closely down to the object, 

 by the weight of the super 

 incumbent atmosphere. 



Possessed of an apparatus 

 so formidable as the mouth 

 of the True Lamprey, this 



fish, although it feeds on animal substances, does not attack the largei 

 and more powerful inhabitants of the water. It usually preys or 

 marine worms and small fish ; and, like the Eel, will even content 

 itself with the flesh of dead ana putrid animals. In fact, the teeth 

 from the circumstance of their not being fixed in bony jaws, are inc& 



