PLATE LXXXI. 
Lampreda marina. Gem. paralip. p. 22. 
Lamprey, or Lamprey Eel. Will. Ichth. p. 105. 
Jiaii Pise. 35 . 
Pen. Brit. Zool. v. 3 . p. 76. sp. 27. 
The spotted Lamprey is a marine fish, ascending the larger rivers 
only early in the spring to spawn, and returning again to the sea 
after an absence of three or four months. It is a general inhabitant 
of all the northern seas of Europe ; and is found in most of the 
principal continental rivers in March and April. The spotted Lam- 
prey is apparently less abundant in the British than the north seas. 
We have some reason to believe, with Pennant, that it is more 
common in the vicinity of the Severn than in most other of our 
rivers, or perhaps with the exception of certain rivers in Scotland 
and Ireland. In the river Usk, a few miles from its junction with 
the Bristol channel, we know this fish to be occasionally taken of a 
large size, and in some plenty. A specimen of about two feet long, 
that was caught last spring at the entrance of the Thames, is now in 
our possession, but we cannot learn that it ever ascends this 
river to spawn. 
Authors speak of the spotted Lamprey as a very prolific fish. 
The usual size is from eighteen inches to two feet, and sometimes 
three, which last it may be presumed very rarely to exceed. Bose, 
a French writer of the present day, indeed asserts, that this fish grows 
to the enormous length of six or eight feet, and is then about 
four inches in diameter ; but on what authority this assertion is 
advanced, is not mentioned. The strong adhesive power which 
