SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 123 
representing a family very distinct from that of 
the toad-fish, is certainly one of the most interest- 
ing of the coast-fishes. Its greatly expanded body 
and head, with broad transverse mouth—whence 
the names ‘kettle-maw,’ ‘wide-gut,’ ‘ all-mouth,’ 
etc.—and the peculiar ‘ angling’ appendages rising 
from the back, impart to the animal an individ- 
uality which is, to say the least, striking. It was 
the supposition of the earlier naturalists—a suppo- 
sition, doubtless, resting chiefly upon a fable that 
FISHING-FROG (ANGLER), 
had been handed down from antiquity—that the 
purpose of the foremost of the filiform append- 
ages on the back was the securing of food, the fish 
being actually credited with a knowledge of the 
art of angling. Hence to this day it is still com- 
monly known as the ‘angler.’ But there can be 
little doubt that these peculiar whips, as well as the 
various other membranous appendages that belong 
to the body, and the coloring of the surface, are 
