DECEMBEE 265 



That the deal-fish is as predaceous as most marine 

 fishes is shown by a pretty serviceable set of sharp, 

 recurved teeth, and that it puts these to practical use 

 appears from the abundance of fat in the body, which 

 fat, say the Norwegian fishermen, drains away in oil 

 soon after death. 



Dimly lighted as the abode of this animal must be, 

 in respect of decorative colouring the deal-fish is not 

 inferior to others. Its sides have the silvery lustre of a 

 spring salmon, and each side is marked with three 

 black discs as large as the creature's eye. In brilliant 

 contrast to the shining body, the high dorsal fin, which 

 extends the whole length of the back, is blood-red, 

 which colour pervades all the other fins also. Man 

 sometimes assumes, arrogantly enough, though not so 

 generally now as formerly, that Nature designed the 

 beauty of creatures chiefly for his special delectation ; 

 but here is a brilliant animal moving habitually so 

 remote from the light that, were it possible for a 

 human being to penetrate to those depths, he could 

 but be conscious of total darkness. 



LXIV 



Mr. Harry Beeston has published a mournful diary 

 in the Zoologist, kept during the winter of Belated 

 1906-7 to record the fate of a swallow and swallows 

 two sand-martins which missed the train in the autumn 

 migration, and attempted to spend the dark months 

 in Hampshire. Cold weather set in about Christmas, 

 the weather being very wintry, with several inches of 



