the Lamprey, a genus of fishes belonging to the class of amphibia nantes. It has sev- eral spiracles 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 termina- tion. 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 tubulous 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 de- gree 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 bor- dered 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 wa- ter. 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 loo- 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 lat- ter 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

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 *clayus argil- laceus* 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. 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 reverted, 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 islands; 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 expense. 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 seas, being the murena of Ovid, Pliny, and others, for which we want an English name. This fish, the lupus (our baffe), and the myxo (a species of mullet), formed that pride of Roman banquets the tripatinum, so called, according to Arbuthnot, from their being served up in a machine with three bottoms. The words lampera and petromyzon are but of modern date, invented from the nature of the fish; the first a lambendo petras, the other from τρίτος and μυξα, because they are supposed to lick or suck the rocks.

2. The fluviatilis, or lesser lamprey, sometimes grows to the length of ten 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 ceteaceous 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 40s. 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 turbos 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 across 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 Iffs; 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 anything like other lampreys.