of swimmers may chance to pass. Then upon the 

 merest contact with this weed-like fin, through ac- 

 cident or design, there is set into motion a veritable 

 spring trap. The huge jaws beneath instantly open. 

 With the aid of its powerful pectorals the angler- 

 fish fairly leaps and suddenly engulfs the unfor- 

 tunate victim — or victims, as the case may be . . . 

 It was undoubtedly in this manner that the fishes 

 I took from Lophius were caught. That this cap- 

 ture was made shortly before the captor's death, I 

 have previously had occasion to remark; but now, 

 further examination reveals what was not appar- 

 ent before. I find that not only was this capture 

 made almost at the instant of the angler's death, 

 but it was also made not many moments before I 

 came upon the carcass at the beach. The very con- 

 dition in which both the creature and its stomach 

 contents were found, was ample testimony of 

 their freshness. It is, however, quite another mat- 

 ter that leads me to determine the truth of this 

 assumption; and this matter takes us at once to 

 the consideration of that strange grotesquery of 

 the sea, to which allusion was made at the begin- 

 ning of this chapter. 



[28] 



