1902 A Note on the A7igler-Fish 185 



rays and skates there is a strong difference in the teeth of 

 males and females, those of the former being sharper than 

 those of the latter ; and some of these rays are further said 

 to display sexual differences in the number and arrangement 

 of the spiny tubercles of the upper surface, but there seems 

 to be some difference of opinion as to the precise value of 

 such distinction. 



On the whole, as will perhaps have been gathered from 

 these brief remarks, our acquaintance with outward signs of 

 age and sex in fishes is extremely limited, and it may be that, 

 in one at an}Tate of these directions, Mr Thomson's recent 

 discovery will open up a wide field of research. 



A Note on the Angler=Fish. 



By Sir Wm. Turner, K.C.B. 



The perusal of Mr Aflalo's article on the Angler-fish 

 {Lophius piscatorius) in No. i of the ' Field Naturalist's 

 Quarterly ' has recalled to my recollection the capture of 

 a large specimen of this curious fish. About twenty-five 

 years ago I was spending m}' autumn holiday in a house 

 on the banks of Loch Goil, Arg\-leshire, and one morning 

 word was brought to me of the capture, by the steward 

 of the local steamer lying at the pier on the opposite side 

 of the loch, of a \try strange fish. I at once rowed across, 

 and on applying to the steward heard from him how the 

 fish, which was a fine specimen of Lophius piscatorius, was 

 caught. When on deck in the early morning he heard some 

 splashing in the water, and on looking over the side of the 

 ship, the tide being low, he saw a fish with a big head amidst 

 the seaweed. He seized the handle of a mop, such as sailors 

 use to clean the deck, and pushed the mop towards the fish, 

 which at once opened the cavernous mouth to receive it. The 

 steward then lifted the fish on to the deck of the steamer, 

 for the teeth in its jaws, owing to their recurved direction, 

 became fixed in the mop, and the fish could not disengage 

 itself. The specimen was unusually large, its long diameter 



