210 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



lecture delivered by Dr. Houston of Dublin, before the Eoyal 

 Zoological Society of that city: — 



" This preparation (for the fidelity of which I can vouch, as 

 it belongs to the Museum of the Eoyal College of Surgeons, 

 and which may be taken as a fair average specimen of a fish's 

 breakfast party, captured at an early hour of the morning) 

 will serve as an illustration of the voraciousness of their habits. 

 Here is the skeleton of a Frog-fish, two-and-a-half feet in 

 length, in the stomach of which is the skeleton of a Cod-fish, 

 two feet long; in whose stomach again are contained the 

 skeletons of two Whitings of the ordinary size ; in the stomach 

 of each Whiting there lay numerous half-digested little fishes, 

 which were too small and broken down to admit of preserva- 

 tion. The Frog-fish, with all tliese contents, was taken last 

 summer by the fishermen, and oflered for sale in the market, 

 as an article of food, without any reference at all to the size of 

 its stomach, which to them is an every-day appearance."* 



Teeth. — From considering the food of fishes, we naturally 

 turn to the means by which that food is taken. Here we per- 

 ceive at once that we have got into a new country, and tliat 

 the tribes by which it is peopled secure their prey by modes 

 very different from those which we have hitherto witnessed. 

 In some of the lower tribes, the action of parts adjoining to the 

 mouth caused currents in the water, and thus supplied the 

 animal with food. The suckers of the Star-fish and the Sea- 

 urchin held fast the prey on which the creatures fed. The 

 lower jaws of the carnivorous beetles maintained their hold 

 while the upper jaws performed their office of laceration. The 

 larger Crustacea had feet which did the same duty. The 

 Cuttle-fish, by means of its suckers, rendered escape im])ossible, 

 and held its struggling captive firm as in a vice, while its 

 parrot-like beak tore it to pieces. But fishes are destitute of 

 all these appliances. Tlie teeth must seize the prey, and must 

 retain the struggling and slippery victim until swallowed ; and 

 admirably are they fitted for the performance of their appointed 

 functions ; so much so, indeed, that the anatomist finds difficulty 

 in obtaining the command of language sufficiently varied to 

 portray the singular diversity and beauty which they exhibit. 

 " The teeth of fishes, in fact, in whatever relation they are 

 considered^ — \vhether in regard to number, form, substance 



* Saunders's News-Letter. 



