LOPHIUS. 291 



tremities bulbous. There were two long rays be- 

 hind the upper lip. In fact, the dorsal fin com- 

 menced by another ray, somewhat solitary, seve- 

 ral inches from the last, towards the tail. Only a 

 few rays were given for the support of the two dor- 

 sal fins, which appeared to have been torn ; indeed^ 

 it would not be difficult to make three distinct dor- 

 sals. The pectoral had twentyfive deeply lodged 

 rays, enveloped in a fleshy, reddish mass, like the 

 meshes in the palm of a child's hand ; in the 

 branchial were five on each side, at considerable 

 distance, allowing the gill to be spread out hke a 

 dust-pan ; the caudal had eight ; the anal ten, and 

 under the belly were loose, fleshy appendages, of 

 a roseate color, covered by an elastic, gelatinous 

 tissue, which are called flippers. Both lips, as 

 well as the jaws, were stocked with sharp, conical 

 teeth, of unequal length, and in the swallow were 

 patches of another kind, but apparently thrown 

 about without much regard to order. 



Where the body joined the head, although that 

 measured over four feet in circumference, it did 

 not much exceed the diameter of a man's arm. 



Old writers, to whom the fishing frog was known, 

 assured their readers that the cirri were fishing 

 lines, and the bulbous extremities were the baits, 

 which nature had provided for its use in angling. 

 Buffon, who relates some strange facts of this fish, 



