174 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
safe place for the eggs. They choose out a 
spot with a sandy bottom and, attaching them- 
selves by their sucker-mouths to any stones 
upon it, they pull these to the lower part of 
their chosen site, thus making a httle dam 
which will keep the eggs from being washed 
away. Then they fasten themselves to a stone 
at the upper edge of their pool, and lash up 
the sand with their tails, while some of the 
eggs and sperms are discharged into the water. 
The eggs sink to the bottom, and the sand 
settles over them. More stones are added to 
the wall of the dam, and the laying process is 
repeated at intervals. Sometimes a number 
of lampreys combine to make a nest, and they 
may be seen hanging in a cluster from a stone. 
When spawning is over, the lampreys are so 
exhausted that they never recover; they float 
away downstream and soon die. 
The eggs hatch out in about three weeks. 
The young ones are quite different from their 
parents, and got their common name of 
“Prides” long before it was known what they 
really were. ‘They are yellowish, worm-like 
creatures, with no visible eyes, and a horseshoe 
mouth. They make a kind of tunnel open at 
both ends in the sand, and spend all their time 
