212 ANGLER. 



flexible, and which thus is caused to project for the purpose of 

 lengthening the focal distance. When this muscular pressure 

 is removed, the action of a small muscle attached to the 

 hinder portion of the lens, the existence of which in several 

 fishes Avas discovered by Mr. Dalrymple, is employed to draw 

 it again to its original seat. In common Avith some other 

 kindred fishes, the Angler is able to move its eyes in various 

 directions; and I think it probable that this is effected by 

 each one independent of the other, as is certainly the case 

 with the Blennies. From the appearance of lines or stripes 

 on the iris of the eye, there seems reason to suppose also that 

 this organ is capable of coiitraction and expansion; by which 

 means the eye may be fitted to the varying degrees of light, 

 as it exists near the bottom or at the surface of the sea. 



This fish is retentive of life, so that when the skin has 

 been kept moist it has been known to live out of its proper 

 element for several days. 



It is known that the race of this fish is continued by means 

 of spawn, as in other bony fishes; ^but much obscurity has 

 existed in regard to the early stages of its growth, and from 

 the observations of Dr. Gunther, there seems to be a founda- 

 tion for the supposition that in its young ^condition it has 

 been mistaken for a different species. To elucidate the present 

 state of this question we give much at large the remarks 

 which that gentleman has published, in the volume of the 

 "Annals cind Magazine of Natural History" for 1861, page 6, 

 together with some figures; but, as regards the latter, I prefer 

 to give that of a specimen formerly in the possession of Mr. 

 Yarrell, and which was drawn at the time of a visit to tha»; 

 gentleman. The specimen itself appears to have been obtained 

 from the Mediterranean, but it answers closely to • that one 

 marked C in Dr. Gunther's Plate X. 



"Small specimens of the European species of the Fishing 

 Frog, or Sea Devil, are extremely scarce in collections, and 

 scarcely any attention has been paid to the remarkable changes 

 in the form of the body and tins, to which this fish is subject 

 in age. Valenciennes is the only author who enters upon the 

 subject at all. He says, — 'The specimen examined is two 

 inches long; the disk of its head is only one third of the 

 total length; and the pectoral fins, which are as long as the 



