6 THE DISCOBOLI. 



or sticking disk. Its presence on species known to Cuvier induced him 

 to designate them as Discoboles, or di.sk-bearers. One of the most familiar 

 forms is that of tlie eoinnion Lump-fish, Cyclopterus lumpus, also called 

 Lumpsucker, Sea Owl, Paidle, or the male Cock Paddle or Red Lump, 

 and the female Hen Paddle or Blue Lump. In other languages we 

 meet with such names as Lompe, Gras-mollet, See-hase, Bauchsauger, 

 Snotdolf, Havpadde, Steenbider, Rognkjaekse, and Nepisa, applied to the 

 same fish. In shape the Lump is rather short and clumsy, blunt, thick 

 and high forward, slender in the caudal region, roughened all over with 

 tubercular scales, as if for protection when at the mercy of the billows 

 among the rocks, and, as if still more to suit the surroundings, it has flesh 

 that might be described as gelatinous or mucilaginous, and a skeleton 

 that is hardly more than cartilage. Lump-fishes reach a length of a couple 

 of feet, and a weight of twenty pounds. In places they are numei'ous at 

 particular seasons, but, though found to agree with the stomachs of some 

 people, they are not objects of much consideration in the markets. Several 

 species have been recorded. 



Others of the Discoboles are more elongate than the Lumps, more like 

 slender tadpoles in shape, with a longer and stronger caudal region, and 

 consequently more force in swimming. The common species of Liparis, 

 L. liparis and L. Montagui, are good representatives of this section of the 

 group. Vernacular names for these are Sucker, Sea Snail, Seeschnecke, 

 and Ringbug. These have so many features in common with the Lumps 

 that their kinship is not called in question. Closely allied in shape and gen- 

 eral structure to the Liparis are a number of species that possess neither 

 sucking disks nor ventral fins, yet the agreement in the other important 

 details of structure, as exemplified by such -items as the stomach, the ca-ca, 

 the suborbitals, and the opercles, is so close that there is no doubt of the 

 propriety of retaining them in the group. They are deep-sea species, 

 and it is probable that, descending from the shoals to the ooze-covered 

 floor of the ocean, in leaving the rocks and currents they left behind them 

 the need of the disk, and lost it through disuse. However the loss may 

 have been brought about, it is very evident that we have species without 

 di.sks that must be included among the Discoboles. 



Though the Discoboli are not the only disk-bearers among the fishes, 

 they are easily distinguished from others, Gobiidce and Gobiesocid^, which, 

 through possession of an organ similar in location and utility, apparently 



