THE TRUE FISHES. 



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recognized by the student of marine zoology, as correspondi] bh th 

 the flat, cushion-like expansions of the compound trun< te Botrylli 

 disguised at every point, the angler has meivly to Lie prom , 

 among the stones and debris at the bottom of the sea, and 

 advent of its unsuspecting prey, which, approaching to browse from \\ 

 it takes to be a flat rock — differing in no resped from thai off whicl 

 obtained the last appetizing morsel of weed or worm — finds itself 

 denly engulfed beyond recall within the merciless jaws of this mai 



impostor." 



The fishing-frog attains a very considerable size, and is common on 

 New England coast. It spawns in the summer, and a mass of its 

 truly beautiful object. The eggs, each with a drop of pink oil, are envel- 

 oped in a gelatinous ribbon, a foot or more wide and fifty, or evi n 

 feet lono 1 . As seen floating in the sea the whole is a tissue of a Blightly 



Fig. 327. — Young fishing-frog as it escapes from the egg. 



pinkish hue, more beautiful, and seemingly more delicat,. than any pi 

 of the looms of man. The eggs hatch soon, and the young fish, on es 

 ino- from the egg, bears no resemblance to the adult fish. The moul 

 small and delicate, and their ventral fins are long and rod-like, and 

 first few days they increase rapidly in length, until they be< 

 lon^ as the fish itself. Of the subsequent history nothing is known 



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