HABITS OF THE LANT. 245 



this well-known habit, and when it is discovered that a shoal of Sand-eels have hidden themselves 

 in the sand they sally out, armed with spades, rakes, shovels, and forks, and dig them out. When 

 extricated from the sand-beds the fish leap about with singular agility, and afford much sport in 

 capturing them. Perhaps the fun in catching them has originated the saying, 'As jolly as a sand- 

 boy.'"! 



They are captured in a similar manner on the coast of Holland. It is Buckland's idea that 

 they go into the sand to take refuge from fish which are pursuing them. 



Captain Atwood, writing to Dr. Storer during 1847, said: "On last Friday night they ran 

 ashore in such quantities in Prbvincetown Harbor that they covered the ground from one to two 

 inches deep, and when the water covered the flats the whole bottom looked like an immense sea of 

 silver." "When thus situated," continues Storer, "they are readily devoured by their enemies, 

 among whom are the cuttle-fish," or squids. 



Various authors have stated that they feed upon the very young fry of other fish and upou 

 small worms. 



Speaking of a closely related species, Amma&ytes toManm, which has not yet been found in the 

 Western Atlantic, but which may yet very probably be discovered here, and whose habits are doubt- 

 less very similar, Oliver writes that they follow the young fry of the coaMsh, or pollock, into the 

 harbor, aud are frequently caught with the same bait. They swim rapidly and dash at a shoal of 

 fry with the voracity and swiftness of a pike, and they even feed upon the young of their own kind. 



As has already been stated, they constitute a favorite bait for many other species of fish. They 

 are very conspicuous by reason of their bright silver color, and their swift motion is easily imitated 

 by trawling them behind the boat in rapid motion. Their form has been imitated in India rubber 

 and metal for use in angling. In England they are a favorite bait for the bass. Couch states that 

 they are frequently followed by mackerel, and that their presence is a sure sign of good fishing. 

 " On a calm evening it is an interesting sight to see the surface of the water broken by the repeated 

 plunges of the voracious fishes as they break Upon the little school of Launces from beneath. 

 Their only certain place of refuge frem these pursuers is the sand." 



Owing to the confusion between the two species of Ammodytes, European naturalists have not 

 yet come to a definite decision as to their time of spawning, but the observations of Benecke indi- 

 cate that this takes place, in the Baltic at least, in May, the fish being most abundant in those 

 waters from July to September. No one has observed these habits on our own coast. 



Distribution. — The distribution of the Lant in the Western Atlantic appears to be limited 

 at the south in the vicinity of Long Island Sound, although it is stated by Uhler and Lugger to 

 occur on the coast of Maryland. Northward it is found at least as far as Sloop Harbor, Labrador. 

 On the Scandinavian coast it has not been found north of Trondhjem Fjord, latitude 65°, though 

 the other species is found up as far as North Cape. It enters the Baltic, occurs everywhere 

 throughout the British Isles, is abundant in Holland and along the northern coast of France. In 

 summer they are frequently seen in immense schools on the southern coast of Massachusetts. 

 Captain Atwood gives the following account of their movements in Cape Cod Bay: 



"Lants are common, and sometimes they are plentiful. Some winters there comes on a cold 

 spell, and if the wind is just right they drive ashore, and you may pick up bucketfuls, while 

 sometimes winters have passed away when I have not noticed but a few. One year, before 18i7 1 

 should think, the Lant came in in immense quantities. The whiting drove the Lant in, and they 

 began to run ashore at high water, and ran ashore till low water, and they covered the whole 

 ground so I should think they would be one and a half or two inches deep. There was not a place 



iBacKLAND: F.amiliar History of British Fishes, p. 193. 



