FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 1 99 



lampreys, and we have counted as many as forty-five on one large spawning bed. 

 They do not confine themselves to any one part of the bed, but move about contin- 

 uously, busily engaged in carrying small stones from one place to another. As far 

 as visible results are concerned, an observer might think that their one intent and 

 object is to move as many stones as possible from one place to another, and that 

 this is accomplished in the most haphazard and indefinite manner, with evidence 

 of lack of any preconceived plan or co-operation. If this were the primary object 

 such inference would indeed be well founded, but we are now convinced that the 

 important result achieved by moving the stones is the stirring and loosening up of 

 the sand to more completely cover and protect the eggs. The sand is also well 

 stirred by the rapidly vibrating tails of both sexes while in copulation. By bringing 

 the sand into contact with the eggs and partially covering them this temporarily 

 prevents minnows from getting them when freshly expelled. The eggs being 

 adhesive are thus also brought into contact with the grains of sand which weight 

 them down and cause them to sink in the bottom of the nest, where they can be 

 further covered instead of being carried down stream to perish. The continuous 

 moving of the stones in the edge of the nest and over the sand of the nest is 

 necessary in order to cover the eggs well with sand; and it can be seen that a 

 concerted action in moving all the stones from one part of the nest to another definite 

 part, especially in the same direction, would defeat the very important end of covering 

 the eggs in all parts of the nest with sand. (For a description of the construction of 

 the nest, see the discussion of the Lake Lamprey.) 



The proportionate numbers of the sexes represented on the spawning beds may 

 vary from fewer males than females to five or six times as many of the former as of 

 the latter, but in general we have observed from two to three times as many males as 

 females.. By watching them very carefully, we have observed that they are not only 

 polygamous but polyandrous, one male mating with several females, and several males 

 mating with the same female. Although they spawn in the latter part of April and 

 in the early part of May when the temperature of the water becomes between forty 

 and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, we wish to record here the remarkably interesting fact 

 that on June 12, 1899, fully a month after the last specimens of this species had dis- 

 appeared from their spawning beds, and when even the most careful search revealed 

 but very few of the Lake Lampreys yet on their beds, we found a fresh plump, female 

 Brook Lamprey, full of eggs and ready to spawn, evidently just transformed. This 

 interesting specimen, with a pair of Lake Lampreys, was sent to Mr. S. F. Denton, 

 the famous fish artist at Wellesley, Mass., to use in an illustration, but it died and 

 spoiled before reaching him. There is no doubt of the specific identification, and the 

 interest attached to it arises from the very late metamorphosis and appearance upon a 



