176 ACANTHOPTERYGII. LOPHIAD^. 



head is large, sometimes enormous ; commonly 

 grotesque or hideous in its aspect, armed with 

 singular horn-like processes, or filaments; the 

 eyes small, placed near the top of the head, 

 usually with a vertical direction ; the tails small 

 and compressed ; all the fins small. 



It is to the thick, grotesque shape, naked tuber- 

 culous skin, often marbled with sombre colours, 

 great head, and wide gapi;ig mouth — common 

 to these fishes — that they owe the names of Frog- 

 fishes and Toad-fishes, by which they are fami- 

 liarly distinguished. The accompanying figure 

 of one of the constituent genera of the Family, 

 {Maltlie 7iasuta, Cuv.) will illustrate one of the 

 forms, and show how appropriate is the reptilian 

 designation conferred upon them. Nor is this 



at all an unfair specimen of the group ; the other 

 genera abound with species in which the aspect, 

 external characters, and colours are so unlike 

 those of ordinary fishes that an unscientific observer 

 would be instantly reminded of a Frog or Toad. 



The habits of these fishes have been already 

 in part alluded to ; some of the tropical species 

 of Antennarius are so truly amphibious, as to 

 come on shore, and crawl about in the fields for 



