HAG (inyrine or gastrobranchus), a genus of cartilaginous fishes, allied to lampreys, and with them ranked among dermopterous fishes by Owen. The fishes of this genus arc of low organization, and seem to connect fishes with eephalopodous mollusks. The vertebral column is reduced to a mere flexible cartilaginous tube, nor are there any other bones. The shape resembles that of an eel or worm. and 'Animus placed these animals among the vernier?. The month is formed by a mere membranous ring,. with it single tooth on its upper part, whilst the tongue is furnished with two rows of strong teeth, and also performs ,t-he office of a piston in the use of the mouth as a sucker. Around the mouth are eight barbnles or eirrhi, which have been regarded as analogous to the tentacles of the cuttlefish, and are apparently the principal special organs of sensa tion. There are no eyes. There are six gill-bags on each side, receiving streamdof water from the gullet ((esophagus) by as many tubes, the water Mag admitted to the gullet by an aperture situated rather on the left side, and carried off by a canal which opens about the end of the first third of the length. The tail is surrounded by a narrow
fin. The skin is smooth and very unctuous.—One species, the GLUTINOUS HAG (21f. glutinosa or G. coccus), is found in the British seas, and is more common on the coast of Norway, where it is an object of dislike to fishermen, as they believe it to cuter by the mouths of haddocks and other fishes caught in their lines, and to prey upon them so as to reduce them to mere skin and skeleton. A fish which has been thus treated is called a robbed fish. Six hags have been taken out of a single haddock. The hag is also said to make its way into fishes through their skin, and is therefore sometimes called the borer. Some suppose, however, that bags are swallowed by the fishes on which they afterwards prey. The glutinous hag attains a length of 12 to 15 in., and exudes a mucous fluid, which soon turns into a kind of j lly. It is of a dark-bluish brown color above, and whitish beneath. The quantity of mucus which it exudes is so great that a single hag. confined in a jar of water, soon turns it all Into a kind of jelly. The mucus is exuded from lateral pores.