208 ANGLER. 



The teeth of this fish are set round the mouth like the prongs 

 of a rat-trap, and are long, strong, and pointed; and those of 

 the lower jaw are directed obliquely inward, so that as this jaw 

 is withdrawn to close with the upper, these teeth may become 

 interlocked together, and thus prevent the escape of the prey; 

 while the teeth of the tongue and gullet, by the action of 

 muscles which act on the latter, prevent such struggles as might 

 obstruct the process of swallowing. The teeth appear to be in 

 a state of perpetual renewal, and those of the inner row are 

 for the most part the largest. They carry with them in their 

 growth a covering of the membrane from which they are pro- 

 duced, and from it perhaps they derive nourishment long after 

 their protrusion from the gums. 



The instinctive force with which the Angler retains its prey 

 when this has come within the grasj) of these teeth, may be 

 judged from a fact related by the natural historian Jonston; 

 who tells us that the fish had been left on the beach by the 

 receding tide, when a fox came prowling along in search of 

 provender, and chanced to thrust its nose within the compass 

 of the expanded jaws; which then closed upon it and held it 

 fast, until, after a considerable time, it was discovered by 

 people that were passing by. In another instance an Angler 

 of large size was discovered by a couple of boys, in shallow 

 water, in a boat where they happened to be without oars. But 

 with the intention perhaps of annoying the fish, they loosened 

 a board that lay along the bottom of the boat, and thrust it 

 within the creature's expanded jaws, which immediately closed 

 upon it. A struggle then commenced, but so firmly did the 

 fish retain its grasp, that it suffered itself to be dragged out of 

 the water and secured. 



But sometimes stratagem will fail to supply the cravings of a 

 hungry stomach; and then, in spite of its inaptitude for effort, 

 the Angler will mount into the higher regions of the sea, and 

 there without discrimination endeavour to glut itself with any 

 object that may attract its attention. It has been known to 

 grasp within its jaws the floating barrel which is usually 

 fastened to the middle of the head-rope of a Pilchard scan; 

 and it has swallowed a large whitewashed ball of cork which 

 formed the buoy of a crab-pot, by which it became choked. 

 When an individual was seen by a fisherman to be swimming 



