204 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



Consisting wholly of the blood of fishes. A lamprey is able to strike its suctorial 

 mouth against a fish and in an instant become so firmly attached that it is very 

 rarely, indeed, that the efforts of the fish will avail to rid itself of its persecutor. 

 It is said that the large-mouth black bass (Micropterus dolomieii), the perch (Pcfca 

 flavescens), and the rock bass (Ambloplitcs rupestris) rid themselves of this pest by 

 swimming between stones and scraping it off, but we cannot believe such statements. 

 When a lamprey attaches itself to a person's hand in the aquarium it can only be 

 freed by lifting it from the water. As a rule it will drop the instant it is exposed to 

 the open air, although often it will remain attached for some time even in the open 

 air, or may attach itself to an object while out of water. 



The stories that are told of certain fish, when attacked, coming to the surface of the 

 water and lying in such a position as to expose their foe, are to be doubted, although 

 reliable eye-witnesses have told us that in the spring of 1897 a black bass weighing 

 perhaps less than a pound was seen to jump out of the water in Fall Creek and shake 

 itself. As it jumped again it was seen that a lamprey was attached to it. A third 

 time it rushed to the surface of the water and appeared to stand upright on its tail and 

 shake itself in the air. This time its efforts were rewarded, for its enemy dropped off 

 and the successful fish darted down stream with a velocity that showed it meant to 

 leave that spot as soon as possible. 



Nearly all lampreys that are attached to fish when they are caught in nets will 

 escape through the meshes of the nets, but some are occasionally brought ashore and 

 may hang on to their victim with bulldog pertinacity. 



Natural Enemies of fl)e Lamprey. 



[N.B. Nothing has ever before been published on this subject.] 



I. Mammals, It is not usually thought that lampreys can be captured by mam- 

 mals, but we have seen conclusive evidence that they are eaten by several species of 

 carnivorous mammals, especially raccoons, muskrats, rats, minks, weasels, foxes and per- 

 haps skunks and house cats. The two periods in the lives of the lampreys at which they 

 are liable to attack, and really are attacked by these animals, is when they are trans- 

 forming and when spawning. The transforming lampreys lie in the sand with their 

 heads or portions of their bodies uncovered, along the banks of the stream, where the 

 water is only one or two inches deep. Their presence can be detected by holes in the 

 sand where they have withdrawn, or by their sudden movement when the ground is 

 shaken, or as they observe a moving object. In the early spring we have often seen 

 the tracks of the animals named, in the mud or sand of the shore at vacated burrows 

 and disturbed sand from which the young lampreys had been removed (see illustra- 



