1194 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
of bone and fin-rays, probably remains of some Goby. 
From the island-belt of Lulea Widegren writes" that 
during summer Lamperns follow the shoals of Baltic 
Herrings and fasten themselves to the fish, gradually 
devouring them. Collett received from Christiania 
Fjord a Lampern that had attached itself to a bit of 
Herring with which a long-line had been baited. From 
Lough Neagh a Lampern was sent to Hyndman * 6 that 
had fastened itself to a large Trout. Otherwise the 
Lampern lives on minute creatures, such as worms, 
crustaceans, and the larvee of insects. The Prides, which 
are toothless and without closed sucking-disk, must 
naturally confine themselves to the smallest prey and 
the decomposing matter they may find in the mud or 
sand. The Lamperns that have ascended the rivers 
to spawn, with their greatly shrunken intestinal canal, 
cease to take any nourishment. 
The Lampern displays activity as it wriggles along 
in the streams like an Eel or a snake, norv and then 
taking a rest by attaching itself. At such times the 
branchial region may be observed continually expand- 
ing and contracting, opening and shutting the gill- 
openings at a breath, about 200 times a minute when 
the fish is most lively. Or it creeps up on jetties, 
dams, or projecting stones, with head and branchial 
region above the water, the air expressed from its gills 
causing a faint bubbling sound. So tenacious is the 
bite of the Lampern on these occasions that even if 
the body be cut off the head sometimes retains its 
position. The Lampern and its larva can live for hours 
or days out of the water, and may thus be kept for 
transmission or consumption as required; but in thunder- 
storms it often happens that most of the captives die. 
In autumn, from September till November, the 
Lampern ascends the rivers from the sea. It is then 
taken in great quantities, especially near the mouths of 
the Norrland rivers. At this season the generative or- 
gans are of fairly advanced development, with eggs 
measuring 2 /s mm. or less; but not until the spring or 
early in the summer, when the ova have attained a 
diameter of 1 mm., does the spawning take place, after 
the same fashion as we have seen above in the case of 
the Sea Lamprey. The Lamperns that constantly in- 
habit fresh water do not repair to the spawning-places 
a Landtbr. Akad. Handl. 18:de delen (1858), p. 200. 
6 Thomps., Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. IV, p. 265. 
Lillj., 1. c., p. 717. 
d Cf. too Benecke, Fisch., Fischer ., Fisckz. 0., W. Preass., p 
e This manuscript, which was rediscovered by Siebold in the 1 
until shortly before the commencement of the opera- 
tion, in Scandinavia usually during April or May. The 
ova of the small Lamperns are then about equal in size 
to those of their larger fellows. Hence the number of the 
eggs is highly variable, from a thousand or so in small 
individuals to several tens of thousands in large fish. 
Aurell ,: observed the behaviour of small Lamperns 
at their spawning-places in the brooks of Lake Wetter. 
“They occurred in very shallow water and where there 
was a brisk current, sometimes 2 to 10 or 20 in com- 
pany. When alone, they were timid and usually shot 
off with almost lightning speed down the current if 
disturbed. But this was not often the case, for they 
sought one another with passionate eagerness. The 
males were more slender and cylindrical than the fe- 
males, which, seen from the sides, were broader. When 
the males were touched, the milt spirted out through 
the genital papilla to a distance of a yard or two, and 
on being touched the female emitted her roe. Their co- 
lour showed great variability, and some, both male and 
female, were mottled.” Else, according to A. Muller d , 
the male attaches himself to the neck of the female 
and coils his body round her in a half spiral. The 
spawning-place is chosen preferably on a pebbly bottom, 
where the fish hollow out a cavity by wriggling the 
body, or construct, as we have mentioned of the Sea 
Lamprey, a shelter for the eggs. After the lapse of 
about three weeks the larvae are excluded. 
The development, first, to Pride and then to Lam- 
pern, was known even to the Strasburg fisherman Bald- 
ner, who in the 17th century wrote a Fischbucli e of the 
Middle Rhine; but his remarks were forgotten until at- 
tention was drawn to them by Siebold, after A. Muller 
had succeeded (1856) in watching the spawning of Petro- 
myzon Planeri in the Panke, a brook that falls into the 
Spree -at Berlin, and in seeing Prides develop from the 
deposited eggs. According to Muller the Pride lives 
three or four years before its transformation into a 
Lampern. It buries itself meanwhile in mud or sand, 
or dwells in brooks or by the banks of rivers among 
fallen and decayed leaves. At times the fish raises the 
forepart of the body and swings it to and fro in the 
water, or wriggles itself entirely free but hastens again 
into concealment. It is so gregarious that in many 
d. 38. 
Museum of Strasburg, is also quoted in several passages by Willughby. 
