MUn LAMPREY. 
405 
of a rapid stream, tlie strength of which it might scarcely be 
able to stem, or to the appetite of any prowling inhabitant of 
the river; from which its powers would not enable it to escape. 
How well it can live buried in a soil fitted to its wants will 
appear from trials to which it has been subjected. 
An example was procured at the beginning of April, and 
at first kept in a pint measure of clear water, where it 
sometimes shewed activity, or rather a restless disposition, as 
we often see with lai-ge numbers in like circumstances; but 
also it often lay as if dead at the bottom, on its back or side. 
Some of the usual mud was then taken from the rivulet and 
placed at the bottom of the vessel; into which it soon buried 
itself, and there continued without being seen above it again 
until the middle of December; at which time it appeared to 
have become a little more slender, perhaps from deficiency of 
food; but not less lively, and after this it was set at liberty. 
On another occasion a few of these fish were placed in a glass 
vessel, with the usual river mud at the bottom. Two of them, 
of larger size, were for a time usually in sight, and sometimes 
active, but the others continued hid in the soil; nor was the 
water changed for the last six months of their imprisonment; 
and only a little was added to supply the loss from evaporation; 
but. from August to the following June they continued alive, 
and at last one of them was enclosed in a box with some 
green seaweed that had been washed in fresh water, and sent 
to my friend Mr. Yarrell; who received it still alive after a 
confinement of thirty-six hours. 
A couple of these fish were kept for several hours in clean 
water; and when a rather tenacious mud was added, from a 
millpool, one of them became buried in it in a quarter of an 
hour, and the other in twice that time. This soil did not 
appear congenial to their habits and motions, but they continued 
within it, except that for a time their heads were often brought 
above its surface, and openings were formed opposite the 
breathing holes, and one of them remained in health, entirely 
within the mud for several weeks. In a large pan of water a 
considerable number hid themselves beneath the flat stones which 
were placed at the bottom; but in all cases a small degree of 
disturbance excites them to action, and they seek to escape 
from it. That they can survive the contact of sea-water appears 
