﻿504 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vol. 47 



While thus quite common along many coasts in rather shallow 

 water, it appears to be at home in deep water. In the cold water 

 under the tropical surrounding Barbados, at a depth of 209 fathoms ; 

 at another place, from " a depth of 365 fathoms " (according to 

 Goode and Bean), specimens were dredged.' 2 



IV 



It is emphatically a bottom-fish, as its depressed form and up- 

 looking eyes sufficiently indicate. It is also addicted to solitude, liv- 

 ing apart from its fellows. In some selected nook, perhaps " hidden 

 among seaweeds or stones " ; perhaps " buried in the mud, with only 

 the mouth and the gill-openings free," it " lies in ambush for its 

 prev." At depths where algal vegetation no more thrives, it doubt- 

 less lies exposed or half-buried in the bottom, for the light is dim 

 and extraneous concealment not much required. According to Day 

 (evidently guided by Couch), in England " during the summer and 

 autumn it resides near the shore where, by means of its pectoral fins, 

 it forms for itself a cavity in the sand," or, should the ground be 

 rough, it lies as if dead, while " its floating filaments, kept in motion 

 by the tide, decoy other fish, and the angler's tendril is no sooner 

 touched than the game is caught." Saville Kent, who had excellent 

 opportunities of observing a large individual in the Manchester 

 Aquarium (1874), was struck by its adaptation to its natural environ- 

 ments, and has given a graphic description of it. 



" Commencing with generalities, one of the most striking features 

 that first attracted notice in this specimen was the remarkable like- 

 ness of the animal's head to a mass of rugged rock— the irregular 

 outline formed by the prominent ridges of its upper surface, and the 

 excessive projection of the massive lower jaw, especially favoring 

 this simile. Following up the idea still farther, the illusion was found 

 to be carried out to an extent altogether marvelous to contemplate. 

 This prominent lower jaw in itself formed a natural rocky ledge 

 springing from the parent mass. Along its lower margin are de- 

 pendent, in the most highly developed state, those singular lobulate 

 processes which extend in a straight line backward to the creature's 

 tail. The size and shape of these processes vary considerably, though 

 generally following a more or less leaf-life contour, and one between 

 every two or three being much longer than its neighbors. As far 

 as I am aware, no attempt has yet been made to explain the purpose 



2 The deep-sea Caribbean fishes are not in the National .Museum and the 

 writer is unable to confirm the identification. They probably belong to a 

 different species. 



