GEN. LOPHIUS. THE ANGLER. 287 



Shetland ; in England it has been taken on the coasts 

 of Cornwall, Devonshire, Norfolk, and Yorkshire ; 

 in Ireland, on those of Londonderry, Antrim, Dub- 

 lin, Waterford, and Cork ; and in Scotland it is by 

 110 means rare, being called Mulrein and Merlin in 

 Edinburgh, and Wide-gape^ a very characteristic 

 name, in the Northern Isles. In the Forth it is 

 usually said to be common ; an assertion we venture 

 to dispute, as referring, at all events, to late years. 

 The boldness, voracity, and other habits of the 

 Angler, are well illustrated by such anecdotes as the 

 following : A fisherman had hooked a Coot-fish, and 

 whilst drawing it up, he felt a heavier weight attach 

 itself to his line. This proved to be an Angler of a 

 large size, which he compelled to quit its hold by a 

 heavy blow on the head, leaving its prey still at- 

 tached to the hook. In another instance, an Angler 

 seized a Conger Eel which had taken the hook ; but 

 after the latter had been engulphed in the enormous 

 jaws, and perhaps in the stomach, it struggled 

 through the gill-aperture of the Angler ; and in that 

 situation both were drawn up together. " I have 

 been told," says Mr. Couch, " of its swallowing a 

 large ball of cork, employed as a buoy to a bulter or 

 deep-sea line ; and the fact this implies of its mount- 

 ing to the surface is further confirmed by the evi- 

 dence of sailors and fishermen who have seen it 

 floating, and taken it with lines at mid- water. These 

 fishes sometimes abound ; and a fisherman who in- 

 formed me of the circumstance, noticed seven of 

 them at one time on the deck of a trawl-boat : on 



