190 THE STORY OF FISH LIFE. 



decomposition could set in, or before they could 

 fall a prey to the scavengers of the sea, in the 

 shape of other fishes of vulture-like habits, or 

 of Crustacea, and other carrion-feeding animals 

 of the lower orders. Such a catastrophe recalls 

 the great earthquake of Lisbon, or the over- 

 whelming of Pompeii by Vesuvius, whereby 

 hundreds of people were as suddenly en- 

 tombed as these fishes. But the fate which 

 befel these ancient perches was by no means an 

 isolated case. Far back in the world's history — 

 as far back as the time when the old red sand- 

 stone was accumulating — there is proof of just 

 such another calamity, as is shown by a portion 

 of a slab containing the remains of some of the 

 ancient fringe-finned fishes {Holoptychius). Yet 

 again we have a third instance, this time in- 

 delibly stamped upon a slab of cretaceous rock 

 from Mount Lebanon, in which are embedded 

 the bodies of hundreds upon hundreds of young 

 herrings. These, however, all lie flat, suggesting 

 less violence in the manner of their death. 



Of fishes whose origin remains at present a 

 mystery are the pipe-fishes and sea-horses, and 

 the bizarre globe-fishes, coff'er-fishes, and sun- 

 fishes. Of the last mentioned species, a dis- 

 tinguished professor of comparative anatomy at 

 Oxford once remarked, that they should be 

 called cherub-fishes, "because they are cut off 

 behind " ! Connecting links, or " annectant 

 forms," as Professor Huxley called them, in 

 the chain of evolution through which these 

 have passed, would be valuable indeed. Hip- 

 pocampuSj the sea-horse, comes nearest to the 



