444 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



rivers on the southern coast of England, particularly the 

 Severn, and is found in smaller numbers in several of the 

 rivers in Scotland and Ireland about the same period of the 

 year. 11 In the month of May, Lampreys are considered in 

 perfection as food, when numbers are prepared in various 

 ways for the table, but after June they lose the firmness of 

 their flesh, and become soft and unwholesome. The death 

 of Henry the First was occasioned by eating lampreys, 

 probably when out of season. Pennant informs us that it 

 has been an old custom for the city of Gloucester, annually 

 to present his Majesty with a lamprey pie covered with a 

 large raised crust. 



Above Alloa in the Forth, where these fish are not un- 

 common, the fishermen, when they accidentally take them in 

 the nets, invariably return them again to the water, having 

 a prejudice against them. They are consequently never, 

 under any circumstances, seen in the Edinburgh markets. 

 The lamprey and the other species belonging to this genus 

 have the habit of fixing themselves by suction to stones 

 and other solid bodies ; by the same means they attack the 

 largest fishes, pierce and devour them. 



Petromyzon fluviatilis.* — The River Lamprey. 



Specific Characters. — Second dorsal and caudal fins uniting ; body 

 dusky blue. 



Description. -*-From a specimen nine inches in length. Body near- 

 ly of equal size for two-thirds of its length, gradually tapering to the 

 end of the tail ; head indistinct ; mouth oval, when expanded it be- 

 comes circular ; lip fleshy, minutely fringed at the inner margin, 

 armed on the inside with a number of yellowish, conical, tooth-like, 

 projections ; on the under surface is a semicircular bone with seven 

 long, slender, sharp-pointed teeth directed downwards and forwards ; 

 on the roof of the mouth are two triangular bony projections set a 

 little apart from each other, pointing downwards and inwards ; tongue 

 rough ; eyes moderate ; branchial openings seven on each side of the 

 neck, arranged in an oblique line from the lower part of the eye back- 



* Petromyzon fluviatilis, Auctorum. 



