106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



SpB-CLASS TeLEOSTEI. L0PUIOID& 



» 



The caudal is rounded and appears like the prolongation of the 

 dorsal and anal fins. 



Ray formula — 



D. 18; P. 15 ; A. 50 ; C. 15. 



Length three feet. Slorer's History Mass. fishes in Memoirs of 

 Am. Acad. Vol. 5, p. 82. 



Family Lophioid^, Bona. 



Char. Generally scaleless, some have bony tubercles. 



Body in some reduced and tapering ; in others subelliptical and 

 compressed. 



Head, in most of the genera very large and broad, in others 

 moderate compared with the body ; suborbital bone wanting : gills 

 variable in number, according to genera, some two, some three 

 and a half, others two and a half. The two carpal bones are elon- 

 gated so as to constitute a kind of peduncle at the extremity of 

 which the' pectoral fin is articulated (hence this family have some- 

 times been called Peclorales pediculati.) 



Branchial apertures open behind the insertion of the pectorals. 



Stomach is simple except in " Devil fish," which has a few 

 pyloric appendages. 



Sub-family Lophin^e, Bona. Genus Lophius, Linn. 



Gen. Char. Head enormously large, broad and depressed. Mouth large, armed 

 with slender conical teeth on the jaws, palatines, vomer, and pharyngeals. Tongue 

 smooth. Branchial rays six, branchial arches three. Dorsal fins two ; the anterior 

 rays distant, detached, forming long filaments supporting tloshy slips. 



Lophius Americana, Guv. 

 Goose fish, ISIonk fish. Sea devil. Bellows fish. 

 If the generic term (iyOj9/«us) were translated Loafer it would 

 give a more expressive name than the many already given to it, 

 as it seems to represent among fishes what the " loafer ^^ is 

 among men, a lazy, stupid, gormandizing fellow, careless of itself 

 or how and where it gets a liying. It has an enormous mouth 

 enabling it to swallow bodies almost as large as itself. Dr. Storer 

 makes a statement on the authority of Capt. West of Chilmark, 

 that one was caught that had " six coots in its stomach in a fresh 

 condition." It grows oftentimes to a large size, individuals some- 

 times are taken weighing 60 or TOlbs. 



