1 6 A Guide to the Zoological Collections 



[A considerable series of preparations in Cases 6, 7, 8, 

 is meant to illustrate some of the most striking of these 

 modifications of form.] 



For instance, in the Flat-fishes (see Pleuronectes) 

 which live and feed on the bottom, and lie on one side, 

 the body is strongly compressed and leaf-like, and the 

 eye of the underside has travelled round to the upper- 

 side, so that both eyes are on one side of the head. 



In the Pomfret (see Stromateus) which, however, is a 

 fish that swims free, the body is almost as much com- 

 pressed as it is in many Flat-fishes. 



In the Skates and Rays, (see Trygon) which gener- 

 ally live and feed on the bottom, the head and trunk 

 are depressed, — giving the body a disk-like form, and 

 the tail is a lash-like organ of defence. 



In the Pediculati or Frog-fishes (see HalieutcBa and 

 Lophius) which also, usually, live on the bottom, the head 

 and body are enormously enlarged and are depressed 

 like a disk. 



In the Eels (see Muraena) which are able to creep 

 under rocks and into holes and crevices, the body is 

 long cylindrical and snake-like. 



In the Hairtails (see Trichiurus) the body is strap- 

 shaped and the tail is long tapering and lash-like. 



In the Pipe-fishes (see Gastrotoceus) many of which live 

 in brackish water among weeds, the body is long, thin 

 and rigid, very much like a stalk or a blade of grass. 



In the Sea-horses (see Hippocampus) the body has a 

 most singular resemblance to the conventional knight 

 of the chess-board. 



In the Box-fishes (see Ostracion) the form of the body 

 is coffer-like. 



In the Hammerhead Sharks (see Zygccna) the name 

 well expresses the curious abnormality of form. 



