SILVER LAMl’REY. 
401 
of shedding the spawn, and may be confined to one sex only. 
Something similar to it is seen in what Bloch, as above referred 
to, calls his Planer’s Lamprey. 
An account of the manner in which these fish proceed while 
shedding their spawn in one of our smaller streams, was 
communicated to me by a fisherman who was in search of 
Lampreys to be employed as bait; for which however this sort 
is less valued than the Mud Lamprey, as not continuing so 
long alive on the hook. The numbers he observed together 
he judged to be about thirty, huddled thickly in company 
in a shallow part of the stream with a gravelly bottom; into 
which they had dug a small hole, and were evidently employed 
in shedding their spawn. This was in March; and being 
desirous of obtaining some of them, by a sudden sweep he 
threw out of the current about a dozen; in doing which a 
considerable quantity of the spawn was received into his hands. 
The rest of these fishes immediately dispersed, and he did 
not wait to know whether or not they assembled again. When 
caught and placed in a tank it will throw itself over the brim, 
but cannot be kept alive long in confinement. 
