PETROMYZON, the LAMPREY, a genus of fishes belonging to the class of amphibians. It has seven spiracula at the side of the neck, no gills, a fistula on the top of the head, and no breast or belly fins. There are three species, distinguished by peculiarities in their back fins.
1. The marinus, or sea-lamprey, is sometimes found so large as to weigh four or five pounds. It greatly resembles the eel in shape; but its body is larger, and its snout longer, narrower, and sharper, at the termination. The opening of the throat is very wide; each jaw is furnished with a single row of very small teeth; in the middle of the palate are situated one or two other teeth, which are longer, stronger, and moveable towards the inside of the throat; the inferior part of the palate presents moreover a row of very small teeth, which reaches to the bottom of the throat, where we find four long notched bones; two short fistulous pro-
cesses are observable at the extremity of the snout, and there are two others thicker but still shorter above the eyes. Willoughby supposes that the latter are the organ of hearing, and the former the organ of smell. His opinion with regard to the auditory faculty of this fish is founded on what we read in ancient authors, that the fishermen attracted the lampreys by whistling, and that Crassus had tamed one of them to such a degree that it knew his voice and obeyed his call.
The eyes of the lamprey are small, and covered with a transparent light blue membrane; the pupil is bordered with a circle of a colour resembling gold; near the gills, which are four in number, there is a round hole on both sides, through which it discharges the water. The lamprey has no fins on his belly or breast; on the back we observe a fin, which begins pretty near the head, extends to the tail which it turns round, and is afterwards continued to the anus: this fin is covered by the skin of the body, to which it adheres but loosely; the skin is smooth, of a red blackish colour, and streaked with yellow; the lamprey advances in the water with winding motions like those of a serpent, which is common to it, with all the anguilliform fishes.
The lamprey lives on flesh. During the cold it lies concealed in the crevices of sea-rocks, and consequently is fished for only at certain seasons. It lives in a state of hostility with the poulpe, a kind of sea polypus, which shuns the combat as long as it can; but when it finds the impossibility of escape, it endeavours to surround the lamprey with its long arms. The latter slips away, and the poulpe becomes its prey. The lobster, we are told, avenges the poulpe, and destroys the lamprey in its turn. See CANCER.
Rondelet says, that the fishermen consider the bite of the lamprey as venomous and dangerous, and never touch it while alive but with pincers. They beat it on the jaws with a stick, and cut off its head. The same naturalist observes, that its ashes are a cure for its bite and for the king's evil. When any one has been
part of it has had its origin from a very different cause to that of volcanoes; but they have certainly laid the foundation of it, as is evident from the high ridge of mountains which surrounds its windward side to protect it from the depredations of the ocean, and is its only barrier against that overpowering element, and may properly be called the skeleton of the island.
"From every examination I have made, I find the whole island formed of an argillaceous earth, either in its primitive state or under its different metamorphoses. The bases of the mountains are composed of schistus argillaceus and talcum lithomargo; but the plains or lowlands remaining nearly in the same moist state as at its formation, the component particles have not experienced the vicissitudes of nature so much as the more elevated parts, consequently retain more of their primitive forms and properties. As argillaceous earth is formed from the sediment of the ocean, from the situation of Trinidad to the continent its formation is easily accounted for, granting first the formation of the ridge of mountains that bound its windward side, and the high mountains on the continent that nearly join it: for the great influx of currents into the gulf of Paria from the coasts of Brazil and Andalusia must bring a vast quantity of light earthy particles from the mouth of the numerous large rivers which traverse these parts of the continent: but the currents being repelled by these ridges of mountains, eddies and smooth water will be produced where they meet and oppose; and therefore the earthy particles would subside, and form banks of mud, and by fresh accumulations added, would soon form dry land: and from these causes it is evident such a tract of country as Trinidad must be formed. But these causes still exist, and the effect from them is evident; for the island is daily growing on the leeward side, as may be seen from the mud-beds that extend a great way into the gulf, and there constantly increase. But from the great influx from the ocean at the south end of the island, and its egress to the Atlantic again, through the Bocas, a channel must ever exist between the continent and Trinidad." See TRINIDAD.
Petromyzon. been bit by a lamprey, the most effectual method is to cut out the part affected. Lampreys are very dexterous in saving themselves: when taken with a hook, they cut the line with their teeth; and when they perceive themselves caught in a net, they attempt to pass through the meshes. They fish for lampreys only on the pebbly edges of sea-rocks; some of these pebbles are drawn together to make a pit as far as the water-edge, or perhaps a little blood is thrown in, and the lamprey is immediately observed to put forth its head between two rocks. As soon as the hook, which is baited with crab or some other fish, is presented to it, it swallows it greedily, and drags it into its hole. There is then occasion for great dexterity to pull it out suddenly; for if it is allowed time to attach itself by the tail, the jaw would be torn away before the fish could be taken. This shows that its strength resides in the end of its tail; the reason of which is, that the great bone of this fish is reversed, so that the bones, which in all other fishes are bent towards the tail, are here turned in a contrary direction, and ascend towards the head. After the lamprey is taken out of the water, it is not killed without a great deal of trouble: the best way is to cut the end of its tail, or perhaps to crush it with repeated blows on the spine, in order to prevent it from leaping. This shows that in the lamprey animal life extends to the end of the spinal marrow.
M. de Querhoent removes our fears concerning the supposed poison of the lamprey. This species of fish, he tells us, abounds on the coasts of Africa and at the Antilles isles; it is found likewise on the coast of Brazil, at Surinam, and in the East Indies. When taken with a hook, we must have the precaution to kill it before we take it off, otherwise it darts upon the fisher and wounds him severely. Its wounds, however, are not venomous, M. de Querhoent having seen several sailors who were bit by it, but experienced no disagreeable consequences. Lampreys are likewise found in great abundance at Ascension Island, but particularly in the seas of Italy: their flesh when dried is excellent; and boiling gives to the vertebrae the colour of gridelin.
The flesh of the lamprey is white, fat, soft, and tender; it is pretty agreeable to the taste, and almost as nourishing as that of the eel; those of a large size are greatly superior to the small ones. We know that the most wealthy of the Romans kept them in fish-ponds at a great expence. Vadius Pollio, the friend of Augustus, who is distinguished in history for his savage gluttony, on supposition that lampreys fed on human flesh were more delicate, ordered his slaves when accused of the slightest faults to be thrown into his fish-ponds. We are no less surprised, in reading the ancient authors, to perceive the extraordinary attachment which the celebrated orators Hortensius and Crassus, men in other respects so grave and sensible, had to this animal. One of them shed tears at the loss of a lamprey; the other improved upon this puerility, and wore mourning at the death of his favourite. It is remarkable, that this fish, which is proper to the sea, and never comes into the rivers, can live and fatten in fresh water. For the advancement of natural history, it were to be wished, that some person who lives near the sea-shore would make observations, in order to discover whether the
lamprey is viviparous: its scales are so imperceptible, that they have been overlooked by most ichthyologists.
Mr Pennant is of opinion, that the ancients were unacquainted with this fish; at least, he says, it is certain, that which Dr Arbuthnot and other learned men render the word lamprey, is a species unknown in our fess, being the muræna of Ovid, Pliny, and others, for which we want an English name. This fish, the lupus (our bass), and the myxo (a species of mullet), formed that pride of Roman banquets the tripatium, so called, according to Arbuthnot, from their being served up in a machine with three bottoms. The words lampetra and petromyzon are but of modern date, invented from the nature of the fish; the first a lampendo petras, the other from petra and myxo, because they are supposed to lick or suck the rocks.
2. The fluviatilis, or lesser lamprey, sometimes grows to the length of 10 inches. The mouth is formed like that of the preceding. On the upper part is a large bifurcated tooth: on each side are three rows of very minute ones: on the lower part are seven teeth, the exterior of which on one side is the largest. The irides are yellow. As in all the other species, between the eyes on the top of the head is a small orifice, of great use to clear its mouth of the water that remains on adhering to the stones; for through that orifice it ejects the water in the same manner as cetaceous fish. On the lower part of the back is a narrow fin, beneath that rises another, which at the beginning is high and angular, then grows narrow, surrounds the tail, and ends near the anus. The colour of the back is brown or dusky, and sometimes mixed with blue; the whole underside silvery. These are found in the Thames, Severn, and Dee; are potted with the larger kind; and are by some preferred to it, as being milder tasted. Vast quantities are taken about Mortlake, and sold to the Dutch for bait for their cod-fishery. Above 430,000 have been sold in a season at 40 s. per 1000; and of late, about 100,000 have been sent to Harwich for the same purpose. It is said that the Dutch have the secret of preserving them till the turbot-fishery.
3. The bronchialis, or lampern, is sometimes found of the length of eight inches, and about the thickness of a swan's quill; but they are generally much smaller. The body is marked with numbers of transverse lines, that pass cross the sides from the back to the bottom of the belly, which is divided from the mouth to the anus by a straight line. The back fin is not angular like that of the former, but of an equal breadth. The tail is lanceolate, and short at the end. They are frequent in the rivers near Oxford, particularly the Isis; but not peculiar to that county, being found in others of the English rivers, where, instead of concealing themselves under the stones, they lodge themselves in the mud, and never are observed to adhere to any thing like other lampreys.
PETRONIUS was a renowned Roman senator. When governor of Egypt, he permitted Herod, king of the Jews, to purchase in Alexandria any quantity of corn which he should judge necessary for the supply of his subjects, who were afflicted with a severe famine. When Tiberius died, Caius Caligula, who succeeded him, took from Vitellius the government of Syria, and gave
Petronius. it to Petronius, who discharged the duties of his office with dignity and honour. From his inclination to favour the Jews, he ran the risk of losing the emperor's friendship and his own life: for when that prince gave orders to have his statue deposited in the temple of Jerusalem, Petronius, finding that the Jews would rather suffer death than see that sacred place profaned, was unwilling to have recourse to violent measures; and therefore preferred a moderation, dictated by humanity, to a cruel obedience. (We must not confound him with another of the same name, viz. Petronius Gramus, who was a centurion in the eighth legion, and served under Cæsar in the Gallic war). In his voyage to Africa, of which country he had been appointed quaestor, the ship in which he sailed was taken by Scipio, who caused all the soldiers to be put to the sword, and promised to save the quaestor's life, provided that he would renounce Cæsar's party. To this proposal Petronius replied, that "Cæsar's officers were accustomed to grant life to others, and not to receive it;" and, at the same time, he stabbed himself with his own sword.
Petronius Arbiter (Titus), a great critic and polite writer of antiquity, the favourite of Nero, supposed to be the same mentioned by Tacitus in the 16th book of his Annals. He was proconsul of Bithynia, and afterwards consul, and appeared capable of the greatest employments. He was one of Nero's principal confidants, and in a manner the superintendent of his pleasures; for that prince thought nothing agreeable or delightful but what was approved by Petronius. The great favour shown him drew upon him the envy of Tigellinus, another of Nero's favourites, who accused him of being concerned in a conspiracy against the emperor; on which Petronius was seized, and was sentenced to die. He met death with a striking indifference, and seems to have tasted it nearly as he had done his pleasures. He would sometimes open a vein and sometimes close it, conversing with his friends in the meanwhile, not on the immortality of the soul, which was no part of his creed, but on topics which pleased his fancy, as of love-verses, agreeable and passionate airs; so that it has been said "his dying was barely ceasing to live." Of this disciple of Epicurus, Tacitus gives the following character: "He was (says he) neither a spendthrift nor a debauchee, like the generality of those who ruin themselves; but a refined voluptuary, who devoted the day to sleep, and the night to the duties of his office, and to pleasure." This courtier is much distinguished by a satire which he wrote, and secretly conveyed to Nero; in which he ingeniously describes, under borrowed names, the character of this prince. Voltaire is of opinion that we have no more of this performance but an extract made by some obscure libertine, without either taste or judgment. Peter Petit discovered at Traw in Dalmatia, in 1665, a considerable fragment containing the sequel of Trimalcion's Eccl. This fragment, which was printed the year after at Padua and at Paris, produced a paper war among the learned. While some affirmed that it was the work of Petronius, and others denied it to be so, Petit continued to assert his right to the discovery of the manuscript, and sent it to Rome, where it was acknowledged to be a production of the 13th century. The French critics, who had attacked its authenticity,
were silent from the moment it was deposited in the Petronius. royal library. It is now generally attributed to Petronius, and found in every subsequent edition of the works of that refined voluptuary. The public did not form the same favourable opinion of some other fragments, which were extracted from a manuscript found at Belgrade in 1688, and printed at Paris by Nodot in 1694, tho' they are ascribed by the editor Charpentier, and several other learned men, to Petronius; yet, on account of the Gallicisms and other barbarous expressions with which they abound, they have generally been considered as unworthy of that author. His genuine works are, 1. A Poem on the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey, translated into prose by Abbé de Marolles, and into French verse by President Bouhier, 1737, in 4to. Petronius, full of fire and enthusiasm, and disgusted with Lucan's flowery language, opposed Pharsalia to Pharsalia; but his work, though evidently superior to the other in some respects, is by no means in the true style of epic poetry. 2. A Poem on the Education of the Roman Youth. 3. Two Treatises; one upon the Corruption of Eloquence, and the other on the Causes of the Decay of Arts and Sciences. 4. A Poem on the Vanity of Dreams. 5. The Shipwreck of Licas. 6. Reflections on the Inconstancy of Human Life. And, 7. Trimalcion's Banquet. To this last performance morality is not much indebted. It is a description of the pleasures of a corrupted court; and the painter is rather an ingenious courtier than a person whose aim is to reform abuses. The best editions of Petronius are those published at Venice, 1499, in 4to; at Amsterdam, 1669, in 8vo, cum notis variorum; Ibid. with Bodichius's notes, 1677, in 24to; and 1700, 2 vols in 24to. The edition of variorum was reprinted in 1743, in 2 vols 4to, with the learned Peter Burman's commentaries. Petronius died in the year 65 or 66.