FISHES. 331 
fish comes in its neighbourhood, it has the power to shoot out its 
jaws and so to engulf the imprudent wanderer. 
The Azgler possesses some flexible appendages, which take 
their rise just above its mouth; at their extremity hang lumps of 
flesh. This peculiar arrangement is precisely as if a number 
of fishing-rods with baits at the ends of their lines, had been 
stuck into the head of the fish, in such a position that the baits 
hung some little distance before its mouth. The angler lies hid 
in the sedge, and he exhibits these lumps of flesh to attract the 
attention of any curious passers-by, who come to nibble, and 
are caught. 
The Scorpena audaciously attacks, and even cruelly tears the 
largest cod-fish, which is often twenty times larger than itself. 
So that it is not invariably the case that the greater eat the less. 
The Chelmons, which are found on the Asiatic coasts, are 
remarkable for their long, tubular snout. They live on insects, 
which they capture in a most peculiar manner. When a chelmon 
observes a fly seated on a leaf overhanging the water, he cautiously 
approaches, and elevating his snout above the water, brings down 
the fly with a well-directed jet of water. 
The Archer-fish of Java employs the same means, with the 
same success in securing its food. 
Nature has furnished fish with different means for resisting 
their enemies. Some have their bodies covered with horny plates, 
or garnished with sharp hooks. Some have the rays of their fins 
so long and sharp, that they pierce the hand which incautiously 
seizes them. Others have their whole body so covered with spines, 
that they approach the appearance of a hedge-hog. 
The Spiny Globe-fish or Diodon is defended in this manner. 
The Sword-fish acquires his descriptive name from the fact 
that the upper jaw is prolonged and flattened out into a species 
of sword—a terrible weapon—with which he attacks the largest 
of the marine inhabitants. In the British Museum there is a piece 
of the keel of a vessel pierced through by the sword of a Xiphias. 
The Saw-fish (Pristis antiquorum) has not a sword, but a 
saw, a blade sometimes nine or ten feet long, projects out of its 
muzzle. This weapon is very strong, and its edges are armed with 
strong-pointed, sharp, osseous spines, placed at regular distances 
