682 JS^ATUEAL HISTORY OP AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



in gill-nets. It fastens itself on the eyes, or especially the gills, of fishes and works itself into the 

 inside of the body, where it devours all the flesh without breaking the skin, so that the fish is left 

 a mere hulk of head, skin, and bones. Every gill-uet in summer at Monterey has more or less of 

 these empty hulks {Sehastiohthys, OpModon, Bhacocliilus, Paralichthys, etc.) in it. It is thought by 

 the fishermen that the Hag-fish will eat a fish of five or six pounds weight in a single night. 

 When a hulk is taken out of the water with a Hag-fish in it, the parasite will scramble out with 

 great alacrity. They reach a length of fourteen inches." 



204. THE LANCELETS— BRANCHIOSTOMID^. 



The Lancelet, or Amphioxus, Branchiostoma lanceolatum, interesting as being the lowest and 

 least specialized of vertebrate animals, has been found at the mouth of the Chesapeake, at Platts 

 Village, Bermuda, and at San Diego, California. 



