202 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



It is not known if the time of duration of the larval period is the same in the two 

 species of lampreys found here, or if the Brook Lamprey has a shorter larval stage 

 than the Lake Lamprey. We have a number of specimens in tanks and shall doubt- 

 less be able to determine some of these features in time. These larvae can be found 

 in almost any sand-bank or drift of dirt and debris from near the source of the stream 

 (the highest spawning beds) to its very mouth, having been carried far below the 

 lowest spawning beds by the high water. Their food is most abundant in the concave 

 side of a turn in the stream where the current causes a whirlpool and quiet water, and 

 where there is a consequent deposit of sediment and fine organic material. They 



NO. 3 -HEAD OF LAKE LAMPREY. 



NO, 4. — MOUTH OF LAKE LAMPREY. 



appear to greatly prefer such a place to a bare sand-bank, doubtless because their 

 food is more abundant where the finely comminuted organic material is also deposited 

 with the mud and sand. 



Along the Susquehanna River the " Sand Lampreys," as the larvae are there called, 

 are in great demand. They are taken from the sand with shovels and used quite 

 extensively for fish bait. When a shovelful of wet sand and mud containing the 

 young lampreys is thrown upon the bank, they can be seen wriggling, to find con- 

 cealment, like pink and white worms of various sizes. It is singular that the line 

 fishermen of central New York have not generally learned the excellency of this kind 



