644 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



furnished to float in the water ; the shreds which terminate them act 

 as natural bait when they float about in different directions, from their 

 resemblance to worms and other marine creatures. The fishes which 

 swim above them, and which they see very well by the assistance of 

 their two eyes placed on the summit of the head, are attracted by 

 these deceitful decoys. When the prey arrives near to the enormous 



Fig. 404. The Frog-fish (Lophius piscatorius). 



jaws, which are almost always wide open, it is engulfed and torn to 

 pieces by the strongly-hooked teeth. 



This manner of lying in ambush, and fishing, as it were, with a 

 hook and line for fishes which its conformation may not permit it to 

 pursue, has acquired for it the name of the fishing-frog, which is some- 

 times given to it. It is found more or less in all parts of the Mediter- 

 ranean and in many parts of the Atlantic, being frequently taken both 

 in the Gulf of Gascony and around the British coast. 



We close our abbreviated history of the Ocean and such of the 

 inhabitants with which it swarms as seems most likely, from their 



