Odd Fish 177 



mainly in sub-tropical waters from 

 America, Mediterranean, and the waters 

 of Asia, and some of the romance of a 

 tropical evening often enters into the 

 descriptions of narrators. Bending low 

 over the side of a boat, or better still 

 with an ear to the water, one can hear 

 from the depths the songs of sirens, 

 rising sometimes into the tones of an 

 organ or sinking to the low melody of a 

 harp ; at other times the sound has been 

 compared to the ringing of bells or 

 the continuous roll of drums. In the 

 Mediterranean the fishermen are guided 

 to the whereabouts of the Meagre by the 

 drumming it produces in the water. The 

 mechanism employed in producing the 

 sounds is naturally various ; a smacking 

 noise by the lips, a rasping sound by the 

 rubbing of the spines together or in their 

 sockets. The drumming noises, how- 

 ever, mostly come from the air-bladder 

 or the muscles connected with it. In the 



M 



