CHORDATA 





on the bottom, where its form and coloring closely resemble sur- 

 rounding objects, with its huge month open, ready to swallow 

 any unwary animal that approaches. 'I he story that it uses its 

 dorsal spine with leaflike appendage as a bait for other fishes 

 is probably a zoological fable. The egg mass of the goosefish 

 is an interesting object. Each egg is inclosed in a transparent 



FIG. 304. Lophius piscatorius, variously known as the angler, frogfish, goosefish ; much 

 reduced. (Alter Cuvier and Valenciennes, from Clans and Sedgwick's Text-book. 1 



gelatinous capsule, and these adhere together, forming a band, 

 thirty or more centimeters wide and ten meters long, of purplish 

 color, which floats near the surface of the water. In the waters 

 about the Philippines lives a fish scarcely two centimeters in 

 length; it is of interest as being the smallest known living ver- 

 tebrate. 



SUBCLASS III. DIPNOI 



The Dipnoi (Gr. hfc, double, and irvo(k, breathing), or lung- 

 fishes, have only three living genera. They are fishlike or eel- 

 •iike in appearance, with dorsal and ventral fins continuous with 

 the caudal, and both pectoral and pelvic fins present. The body 

 is covered with large cycloid scales, and an operculum incloses 

 the gills. The skeleton is partly ossified. A spiral valve is 

 present in the intestine, and there are abdominal pores and a 

 cloaca. An air bladder is always present, which may perform 

 the function of a lung, and is provided with a duct, which opens 

 into the pharynx on its ventral side. 



