PLATE X. 
skin is taken off. Mr. Pennant says, they resort in multitudes at 
that season to the coast of Sutherland, near the Ol d of Caithness ; 
and that the seals which prey upon them leave the skins; numbets 
of which thus emptied, float at that time ashore. It is easy (adds 
that writer) to distinguish the place where seals are devouring this or 
any unctuous fish, by the smoothness of the water immediately 
above the spot ; it being the property of oil to still the agitation of 
the waves, and render them smooth. 
The Lumpsucker is found throughout the seas in the north part of 
Europe. The Greenlanders, it is said, call them Nipisets, and are 
remarkably fond of them, as they are of oily food in general. 
Its organ of adhesion or sucker is large, and consists of a singula* 
fleshy substance, surrounded by numerous little papilla ; by means 
of which it adheres to the rocks in a manner truly astonishing. A 
fish of a moderate size has been known to suspend a weight of above 
twenty pounds upon which it had accidently fastened itself. M- 
Pennant says still more, for he has known that on flinging a fish of 
this kind just caught into a pail of water, it fixed itself so firmly to 
the bottom, that- on taking it by the tail, the pail was lifted 11 P’ 
though it contained some gallons of water. 
One or two writers think this species is sufficiently characterise 
by the number of the tuberculated angles of the body, which are' 
seven, namely, three on each side, and one along the back, fl 
dorsal fin is placed near the tail, and consists of eleven rays; 111 
the pectoral fin are twenty ; anal ten, and twelve in the tail. 
