THE WALKING FISH. 557 



following the instincts of their inquisitive nature, corae to examine the 

 curious object, and are suddenly snapped up in the wide jaws of their 

 hidden foe. Many fishes can be attracted by any glittering object 

 moved gently in the water, and it is well known by anglers how deadly 

 a bait is formed of a spoon-shaped piece of polished metal furnished 

 with hooks and drawn quickly through the water. 



It is impossible to mistake this fish for any other inhabitant of the 

 ocean, its huge head — wide, flattened, and toad-like — its enormous and 

 gaping mouth, with the rows of sharply-pointed teeth, its eyes set on 

 the top of the head, and the three long spines, being signs which can- 

 not be misunderstood. The general color of this fish is brown above 

 and white below ; the ventral and pectoral fins are nearly white, and 

 that of the tail almost black. The throat, just within the jaws, is 

 composed of loose skin, which forms a kind of bag. The average 

 length of the adult Fishing Frog is about a yard. 



The family in which this fish is placed may be distinguished by the 

 peculiar structure of the pectoral fins, which are mounted on a sort 

 of arm produced by an elongation of the carpal bones. From this 

 peculiarity the family is termed Pediculati, or " foot-bearing fishes," as 

 the prolonged fins enable them to walk along wet ground almost like 

 quadrupeds. 



The very odd-looking creature called the Walking Fish is one of 

 the strange and weird forms that sometimes occur in nature, and which 

 are so entirely opposed to all preconceived ideas that they appear 

 to be rather the composition of human ingenuity than beings actually 

 existing. The traveller who first discovered this remarkable fish would 

 certainly have been disbelieved if he had contented himself with mak- 

 ing a drawing of it, and had not satisfied the rigid scrutiny of scientific 

 men by bringing home a preserved specimen. 



In the fishes of this genus the carpal bones — i. e., those bones which 

 represent the wrist in man — are very greatly lengthened, more so than 

 in the preceding genus, and at their extremity are placed the pectoral 

 fins, which are short, stiflT, and powerful, the pointed rays resembling 

 claws rather than fins. In all the fishes of this genus the body is 

 much compressed and decidedly elevated, but in the present species 

 these peculiarities are carried to an almost exaggerated extent. The 

 first dorsal spine, with its membranous appendages, is placed, as usual, 

 just above the snout, and the second ray is set immediately behind it. 

 The third, however, is placed at a very great distance from the second, 

 and forms part of the soft dorsal fin. . 



Dr. Giinther remarks upon the fishes of this genus that they are so 

 extremely variable in form, color, and the greater or less development 

 of the dorsal spines, that hardly two specimens are found sufl[iciently 

 alike to enable the systematic naturalist to decide upon their precise 



47* 



