220 ANGLING EXTRAORDINARY. 



even though a dead one, was not to be thought lightly of; 

 and so long as the olfactory nerves of the visitors were able to 

 endure it, the monster was made to display his strange proporiions. 

 The Angler well deserves the name of Wide Gab, by which it is 

 known to the fishermen north of the Tweed, for surely never was 

 another such a mouth seen either in bird or beast or fish. This re- 

 markable fish has much the appearance of a huge Tadpole ; its head 

 being of enormous size, measuring across the widest part more 

 than the entire length of the animal, while its body tapers away 

 to a tail of the most modest dimensions. 



The most remarkable character of the creature, and the one 

 which has suggested the name of " Angler," is the presence of 

 two long, slender, and flexible appendages which spring from the 

 top of the nose, and are dilated at the extremity into a glittering 

 silvery expansion, that acts as the bait with which the monster 

 attracts his unsuspecting prey. It goes to work in a very 

 wary and sagacious fashion, crouching close to the ground, and 

 then by the action of its pectoral fins stirring up the sand or 

 mud. Hidden by the obscurity which it has produced, it 

 elevates its fishing-rods, moves them in various directions, and 

 twiddles about the shining baits at the extremity ; the small fish 

 in the neighbourhood, attracted by the moving objects, come close 

 to examine or seize them, when the monster springs iipwards 

 with his cavernous mouth wide distended, and in a moment they 

 are gone. There is no mistake about it, that if an ogre of this 

 sort could be neatly caged in the Fish House, and induced to go 

 through his performance in presence of the visitors, it would 

 be the most successful "hit" the Zoological Society had ever 

 made. 



And yet not the most successful perhaps after all, for here is 

 another, and withal a more practicable one. What would you 

 say now to a Singing Fish ? It is true we have lately had a 

 " Talking Fish ;" but that was a mere hoax, the so-called " fish " 

 being a seal, and the " talking " a mere unintelligible and only 

 occasional bark or grunt. What we propose is a real bond fide 

 vocalist belonging to the finny tribes. It would take immensely. 

 Singing Mice and Talking Canaries have had their day ; but a 

 Singing Fish ! 



Mr. Edward Newman has an interesting paper on the subject 

 ofthese Mxisical fishes of the East in the " Zoologist " for last year ; 



