TEETH OF FISHES. 



163 



construct, as it were, the edges of the mouth, and 

 consist of large bent plates, having the appearance 

 of a parrot's bill (see cut). In the Anarichas lupus^ 



or sea-cat, they are thickly set, and, though rounded 

 on the tops, are so hard, as to leave a mark on the 

 hardest substances vs^hich have been seized hy the 

 fish in the struggles of death. In the rays, again, 

 they cover the lips like a pavement, are blunt, and 

 very regularly set, but from the muscular power 

 which acts on them, they are beautifully adapted 

 for crushing the hard shell-fish on which these 

 tribes subsist. In all their modifications, however 

 formidable, we do not know them in any other 



