62 MERMAID'S PURSE. 



in form to a four-handed barrow. In this secure case 

 the young fish continues to live for some time, until 

 the nourishment provided for it in the egg is ex- 

 hausted, and the little creature, increased in size and 

 strength, is able to burst the narrow enclosure, and 

 seek his fortune in the open sea. These purses are 

 produced at the latter end of spring, or early summer, 

 and will then be found to contain the young fish, in 

 various stages of growth, nicely coiled up, with his long 

 tail bent back towards the head. At this early stage 

 the fish bears a near resemblance to what it afterwards 

 attains. The flat rhomboidal body, expanding at the 

 sides into a wide winglike margin, composed of a modi- 

 fication of the pectoral fins and the long and slender 

 thorny tail, are quite as striking in the young as in the 

 old specimen. In the Ray tribe there seems no distinct 

 head ; this part and the neck, being confounded with 

 the body and the expanded margin, forms merely a 

 wedge-shaped anterior extremity. The mouth, and 

 nostrils, and gill-openings, are found on the under sur- 

 face, the eyes on the upper ; and this separation gives 

 the countenance that peculiar distracted expression 

 which is so hideous. The form of the body is admi- 

 rably adapted to the habits of these fishes, which live 

 on the bottom, where they glide along with a slow mo- 

 tion, assisted by gentle movements of the pectoral fins. 

 Being as flat as the surface of the ground over which 

 they move, and nearly of the same colour, they can 

 pursue their game with much security and at leisure. 

 Another, and more beautiful kind of Mermaid's Purse, 

 is the egg of the Dog-fish, a small species of Shark. 



