﻿gill] LIFE HISTORY OF I ll I VNGLER 



or function of these appendages; but to one accustomed to hunting 

 for marine treasures at low tide on a rock) coast line, their resem- 

 blance to the small flat calcareous sponges (Grantia compressa), 

 ascidians, zoophytes, and other low invertebrate organisms which 

 fringe the lower margin of every conspicuous ledge, is strikingly 

 suggestive. The next point we arrive at is the wonderful apparatus 

 upon its head, with which the animal has been supposed to lure on 

 its prey to destruction. It consists of two erectile filaments, the fore- 

 most of which is produced at its extremity into a membranous digiti- 

 Eorm expansion. According' to the books, this expanded membrane 

 owes its especial attractive qualities as a bait to fish in its vicinity 

 to the glittering metallic colors which play upon its surface. As far 

 as I can ascertain, however, by both personal observation and that of 

 others, no such distinctive coloring really exists, the membrane 

 sharing the sombre hues of the general surface of the body. Fol- 

 lowing out our rock simile, these organs yield another point re- 

 markably favorable thereto ; the foremost filament, with its digiti- 

 form membrane, is the facsimile of a young frond of oar-weed 

 (Lamiiiaria digitata) in both shape and color; and in the tendril 

 behind it we have a repetition of the same with the blade of the 

 frond, as it were, worn away by the current of the ocean. Our rock, 

 however, is not yet clothed with all the growths that contribute to 

 perfect its mimicry of nature ; for where we least expect it — that 

 is, in the animal's eye — we find the most extraordinary mimicry of 

 all. These organs are very large and prominent, the iris being 

 conical in shape, of a yellow ground color, with longitudinal stripes of 

 a darker shade, while the pupil, commencing abruptly at the summit, 

 is of so jetty a hue that the aspect of the whole is that of a hollow 

 truncated cone, resembling, with its longitudinal stripes, the deserted 

 shell of an acorn barnacle, and with an amount of exactness that is 

 apparent to the most ordinary observer. We have here in this fish, 

 then, the most perfect possible embodiment of a rocky boulder, with 

 its associated animal and vegetable growths. Lying prone at the 

 bottom of the ocean among ordinary rocks and debris, it might well 

 pass muster as an inanimate object, and the other fish on which it 

 preys would approach it with impunity, and never discover their 

 mistake until too late to escape from its merciless jaws. Esconce 

 the animal snugly, however, in the crevice of some precipitous sub- 

 marine cliff, and the illusion is more perfectly complete. No strategy 

 need now be exerted by the voracious fish to attract his prey ; he has 

 only to lie close and quiet, letting his tendrils sway to and fro in the 



