A HISTORY OF 

 CHAPTER VI. 



OF ANOMALOUS CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



OF all others, the Cartilaginous class seems to abound with the 

 greatest variety of ill-formed animals ; and, if philosophy could allow 

 the expression, we might say, that the cartilaginous class was the 

 class of monsters : in fact, it exhibits a variety of shapeless beings, 

 the deviations of which from the usual form of fishes are beyond the 

 power of words to describe, and scarcely of the pencil to draw. In 

 this class we have the Pipe Fish, that almost tapers to a thread, and 

 the Sun Fish, that has the appearance of a bulky head, but the body 

 cut off in the middle ; the Hippocampus, with a head somewhat like 

 that of a horse, and the Water Bat, whose head can scarcely be dis- 

 tinguished from the body. In this class we find the Fishing Frog, 

 which from its deformity some have called the Sea Devil, the Chimae- 

 ra, the Lump Fish, the Sea Porcupine, and the Sea Snail. Of all 

 these the history is but little known ; and naturalists supply the place 

 with description. 



The Sun Fish sometimes grows to a very large size ; one taken 

 near Plymouth was five hundred weight. In form it resembles a 

 bream, or some deep fish cut off in the middle : the mouth is very 

 small, and contains in each jaw two broad teeth, with sharp edges 

 the colour of the back is dusky and dappled, and the belly is of a sil- 

 very white. When boiled, it has been observed to turn to a glutinous 

 jelly, and would most probably serve for all the purposes of isinglass, 

 were it found in sufficient plenty. 



The Fishing Frog in shape very much resembles a tadpole or young 

 frog, but then a tadpole of enormous size, for it grows to above five 

 feet long, and its mouth is sometimes a yard wide. Nothing can ex- 

 ceed its deformity. The head is much bigger than the whole body ; 

 the under jaw projects beyond the upper, and both are armed with 

 rows of slender, sharp teeth ; the palate and the tongue are furnished 

 with teeth in like manner ; the eyes are placed on the top of the head 

 and are encompassed with prickles : immediately above the nose are 

 two long beards or filaments, small in the beginning, but thicker at 

 the end, and round : these, as it is said, answer a very singular pur- 

 pose; for being made somewhat resembling a fishing-line, it is assort- 

 ed, that the animal converts them to the purposes of fishing. With 

 these extended, as Pliny asserts, the fishing frog hides in muddy wa- 

 ters, and leaves nothing but the beards to be seen; the curiosity of 

 the smaller fish brings them to view these filaments, and their hunger 

 induces them to seize the bait; upon which the animal in ambush in- 

 stantly draws in its filaments, with the little fish that had taken the 

 bait, and devours it without mercy. This story, though apparently 

 improbable, has found credit among some of our best naturalists; but 

 what induces me to doubt the fact is, that there is another species of 

 nis anima. that has no beards, which it would not want if they were 

 necessary *o the existence of the kind. Rondeletius informs us. that,: 



