600 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



their surroundings. The La'otaU^ " after a few minutes," moved 

 " from the first position and, apparently, sought one better adapted 

 to its habits." It then 



fixed itself, in a vertical position with the head np, in an indentation in a coral 

 block which pretty well matched its size. When attached it looked much like 

 the block itself, the cutaneous tentacles and ocellated spots greatly resembling 

 the fine seaweed and colored nullipores with which the dead portions of corals 

 and stones are more or less coated in tropical seas. 



It indeed appeared to '^^'liitmee to present a case of mimicry and 

 accommodation to its environments. 



Being a slow swimmer and carnivorous it has to get its food by stratagem. 

 Hence the advantage of those characteristics which make it so grotesque in 

 appearance — wide vertical mouth, rough and spotted skin, with cutaneous 

 tentacles, and the anterior dorsal spine modified into a soft tentacle. 



They catch fishes if they can, and eat them when they can get 

 them. The La'otali, soon after being transferred to the aquarium 



vomited a slightly decomposed fish 1 inch 5 lines in length. This was one 

 of the small fishes always seen in great abundance about the coral patches, 

 nibbling at the fine seaweeds and the growing points of the corals. The cap- 

 ture of such fishes when unconsciously approaching it, 



Whitmee thought, would be 



greatly facilitated by the strong current produced when this Antennarius sucks 

 the water into its capacious jaws. From its vertical position, when fixed on 

 a stone, the jaws open horizontally, and they are very wide. 



When examining the fish Whitmee placed it in a basin with about a 

 pint of water. So much water was drawn into the jaws and expelled 

 with such force through the branchial " foramina, which are directed 

 backward behind the pectorals, that a rapid rotatory motion was 

 produced in all the water. This," it was thought, " would be suffi- 

 cient to engulf many a small fish or crustacean within its stomach." 

 Whitmee was unable to observe his fishes feeding. 



The geniculate pectorals and the attitude the sea toad assumes sug- 

 gest the possibility, if not probability, that it may use its coral foot- 

 hold as a base from which to leap upon a fish attracted near enough 

 to justify the attempt. Doubtless the general belief that some fishes 

 are attracted by the appearance of the " bait " or appendages of the 

 cephalic spine has a foundation in fact, and an incautious fish may 

 come so near that the angler can spring upon and capture it before 

 the victim finds out its mistake. 



Nothing is known of the reproductive processes of any species of 

 sea toad. Since, however, the divergents to such extremes as the 

 angler and the sargasso fish essentially agree in the manner of oviposi- 

 tion, it may be safely assumed that the Antennarii share in the habits 

 and methods derived from a common ancestry. The female sea 

 toads, therefore, doubtless discharge their mature eggs of one ovary 



