53 = 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



appearance, tbey may perhaps not improperly be called the " sea- 

 urchins " among fishes. 



Another strange form is the fishing-frog, or angler (Fig. 18), whose 

 enormous mouth enables it to swallow animals nearly as large as 



Fig. 18. Angler, or Goose-fish {LojMus Americanus, Cuvier). 



itself, and whose antex-ior dorsal rays bear fleshy filaments, which it is 

 said to use as a bait to decoy other fishes, thaf it may secure them as 

 food. 



In the cavities under stones in the sea are found the little toad- 

 fishes (Fig. 19), whose head is so like that of a toad that we are 

 ready to concede that both the popular and scientific names of these 

 animals (batrachus) are well bestowed. 



Fig. 19. Toad-fish (^Batrachus tau, Linnoeus). 



There are many other fishes that depart so much from the ordinary 

 forms that tlie common fisherman instinctively names them after some 

 land-animals. The sea-wolf or wolf-fish is one of these, although its 

 head is more like that of a wild-cat or a lynx than it is like that of a 

 wolf. It is sometimes called the sea-cat. Its body is long, witli a 

 dorsal fin nearly the whole length, and the head is round; its moutli 

 is armed with a most formidable array of teeth, making this animal, 



