FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
43 
This curious little animal is not represented in our collection. It was first recorded from 
Chesapeake Bay by Rice (1880, p. 1 ), who followed European authors in considering the American 
and European species identical. Andrews (1893, pp. 238 to 240), after examining specimens from 
several localities, concluded that the specimens from Chesapeake Bay belonged to the European 
foim, 3. lanceolatum, rather than to the more southern American form, 3. cavibseuva. Hubbs 
(1922, p. 8) found the Chesapeake Bay specimens to represent a new species — B. virginise — which 
differs from other American species in the more numerous myotomes. 
these little animals were first made known to science in 1774 from specimens found upon the 
coast of Cornwall, England, and described by Pallas, who considered them a species of snail and 
gave them the name Limax lanceolatus. 
The lancelets live principally in the sand. The young are often taken in plankton nets, but 
the adults that have been captured are reported either to have been dug out of sand along the 
shore or taken in dredges. Rice (1880, p. 8) states that live animals kept in glass containers swam 
much like tadpoles but different, in that the head, or anterior part of the body, moved from side 
to side as far and as vigorously as the tail. They swam about either on the side or on the abdomen 
and sometimes on the back but never backward. 
The young did not “burrow,” but the adults remained hidden in the sand (which was pro- 
vided on the bottom of the containers) during the day, but at night they came near to the surface 
or emerged wholly or in part, indicating that the day is their rest period and that they feed at night. 
Habitat. — Chesapeake Bay. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous record: Fort Wool, Fortress Monroe, Willoughby Sandspit, 
and Sewell’s Point. ( b ) Specimens in collection: None. 
Class M ARSIPOBR AN CH1I 
Order HYPEROARTIA 
Family II.-PETROMYZONID/E. The lampreys 
Bodj eel-shaped, more or less cylindrical anteriorly, compressed posteriorly; head not 
differentiated from the body; mouth nearly or quite circular, suctorial, usually armed with teeth; 
eyes developed, at least in the adult; gill openings small, rounded, seven on each side, arranged in 
a row along the chest; dorsal fin notched or divided, its posterior part commonly continuous with 
the caudal and anal fins around the tail; intestine with a spiral valve. 
2. Genus PETROMYZON Linnaeus. Lampreys 
Teeth present in mouth, arranged in concentric lines, pointed and rather close together, the 
teeth immediately anterior to mouth two or three in number; the lateral teeth bicuspid; dorsal 
fins 2, well separated. Of this genus, a single species is known, which lives in the sea but kscends 
rivers to spawn. 
2. Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus. Lamprey; Lamprey eel. 
Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, 230; European seas. Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 194, ed. II, p. 164; 
Bean, 1883, p. 367; Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 10, Pl. I, fig. 3; Smith and Bean, 1899, p. 180; Fowler, 1912, ’p. 51.’ 
Body eel-shaped, somewhat depressed anteriorly, compressed posteriorly; head depressed 
its length to first gill opening greater than the distance from the first to the last gill opening 6 6 
in total length; eye of moderate size, 6 in head; interorbital space broad, 3 in head; mouth, or bu’ccal 
disk, large, its diameter about 2 in head; teeth on each side of mouth bicuspid, a series posterior to 
'he mouth coalesced, the other teeth simple; the origin of the first dorsal distinctly behind the middle 
°f the bod y- the distance from tip of snout to origin of dorsal 1.9 in total length; the second dorsal 
I well separated from the first, continuous with the rounded caudal, with a depression posteriorly 
anal fin represented by a mere fold. J ’ 
Color in alcohol plain bluish-gray above, pale below. The color in life has been described as 
mottled brown or black above, occasionally plain bluish, with lower parts whitish or gray. 
A single specimen, 158 mm. (6LC inches) in length, is at hand and it forms the basis for the fore- 
going description. This lamprey is readily recognized by the bicuspid teeth on the sides of the 
mouth and by the divided and well separated dorsal fins. 
