SAND LAUNl'E. 



42.9 



APODAL 



MALACOPTERYCII. 



M.UR&NID2E. 



THE SAND-LAUNCE. 



THE HIGGLE, SuSSCX COdSt. 



Ammodytes Lancea, L'Equille, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 360. 



,, ,, Small-mouthed Launce, JENYNS, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 483, 



sp. 171. 



,, Tobianus, Sand-Launce, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 206, pi. 28. 

 ,, ,, Common Launce, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 201, sp. 113. 



THE SAND-LAUNCE, as previously stated, is very abun- 

 dant on many parts of the shore of the British Islands. On 

 account of its silvery brightness, it is in great estimation and 

 constant use with fishermen as bait for the hooks of their 

 sea and hand lines ; and the habit peculiar to the species of 

 burying themselves in the wet sand as the tide recedes affords 

 easy means of capture. The generic term Ammodytes refers 

 to this power of digging in sand. With the projecting 

 portion of the under jaw, aided by the muscular power of the 

 fish, and its slender form, it is enabled to bury itself with 

 rapidity five or six inches deep in the soft sand as the ebbing 

 sea retires, and releases itself again on the approach of the 

 ensuing flood-tide, apparently uninjured, though deprived of 



