72 yiSH GALLERY 



[Case 13.] short fronds of seaweed — a structure which, combined with the 

 extraordinary faculty of assimilating the colours of the body to its 

 surroundings, assists the fish in concealing itself in places which 

 it selects on account of the abundance of prey. To render the 

 organization of these creatures perfect in relation to their wants, 

 they are provided with three long filaments inserted along the 

 middle of the head, which are, in fact, the detached and modified 

 first three spines of the anterior dorsal fin. The filament most 

 important in the economy of the Fishing- frogs is the first, which 

 is the longest, terminates in a lappet, and is movable in every 

 direction. There is no doubt that the Fishing-frog, like many 

 other fish provided with similar appendages, plays with this 

 filament as with a bait, attracting fishes, which, when sufficiently 

 near, are engulfed, by the simple act of the Fishing-frog opening 

 its gape. It is extremely interesting to find that in Fishing-frogs 

 which inhabit great depths of the ocean, to which no ray of light 

 can penetrate, the filament is provided at its end with a luminous 

 or phosphorescent organ ; the light issuing from it attracts other 

 creatures, in the same manner as surface-animals congregate round 

 the lamp of a boat during a dark night. The stomach of the 

 Sea-devil is distensible in an extraordinary degree, and not 

 rarely fishes have been taken out of it quite as large and 

 heavy as their destroyer. The British species (L. piscatorius) 

 grows to a length of more than five feet ; an allied species from 

 the Admiralty Islands [Lophius naresii) is figured here. Chaunax 

 pictus is a deep-sea form, hitherto found near Madeira, Japan, 

 and the Fiji Islands, at a depth of 215 fathoms. Another curious 

 fish of this family is Malt he vespertilio, common on the shores of 

 the tropical Atlantic; the anterior part of the snout is produced 

 into a long process, beneath which there is a retractile tentacle. 



The Blenniidce, or Blennies (Case 13), are mostly small-sized 

 littoral fishes ; some species have become acclimatized in fresh 

 water, and many inhabit brackish water. Four species of Blen- 

 iii ns occur on the British coasts. The Sea-wolf or Sea-cat 

 (A/iarr/iic/ms lujiiis) is a gigantic Blenny, attaining to a length 

 of more than six feet. With its enormously strong tubercular 

 teeth it is able to crush the hardest shells of crustaceans or 

 mollueks, on which it feeds voraciously. It is an inhabitant of 



