LAMPREYS. 5 



supported by the tongue. The circular lip around this sucking 

 disc is fringed with numerous short tentacles. The Lamprey does 

 not "bite" its food as an animal with ordinary jaws would do, 

 but attaches itself by its disc to the skin of living Cod, Haddock, 

 and Mackerel, and gnaws away the flesh by its pointed conical 

 teeth, until it has satisfied its hunger, when it leaves the fish to 

 recover, or more probably to die. 



The Lamprey has two dorsal fins, the second being continuous 

 with the caudal ; the skin is slimy, the eyes are very small and 

 situated in front of the seven small, circular gill-openings. The 

 skull of the Lamprey affords but little protection to the upper 

 part of the brain, the roof ' consisting merely of a narrow 

 "occipital arch" (sec 1061). The " subocular arch" possibly 

 corresponds with the palato-quadrate cartilage of the true Fishes, 

 the cartilage which in Sharks and Lung-fishes functions as the 

 upper jaw and bears the upper teeth. 



Lampreys ascend the rivers from the sea in the spring to 

 deposit their spawn. They grow to 30 inches in length and 3 lbs. 

 in weight. They were esteemed a delicacy in olden times, but 

 they are not much eaten at the present day ; they are, nevertheless, 

 wholesome food, and the historical incident firmly fixed in the 

 memory of most schoolboys, that Henry I. died after a surfeit of 

 Lampreys, should not be allowed to tell against them as an article 

 of diet. In England the principal Lamprey fishery is in the 

 Severn. 



The Lampern, Petromyzon fluviatilis, 1058, bears a general Lampern. 

 resemblance to the Lamprey, but it rarely attains a greater length 

 than 16 inches, at all events in British rivers. It usually spends 

 the whole of its life in fresh water, although some individuals have 

 been caught in the sea. Its skin is not mottled as is that of the 

 Lamprey, and the eye is relatively larger. The Lampern does not 

 seem to prey upon living fish as does the Lamprey. It makes 

 excellent bait for Cod and Turbot. 



Planer's Lamprey, Petromyzon planeri, is smaller than the 

 Lampern, and differs slightly in the arrangement of the teeth, the 

 shape of the dorsal fin, and in its habit of living in the mud, 

 whence it is sometimes called the Mud-Lamprey. The larval 

 forms of the Lampern and Planer's Lamprey are known as 



