234 A RAPACIOUS FISH. 



There is no more rapacious fisli in the temperate 

 seas than the Angler, as this curious creature is also 

 called. The work of digestion, however, goes on but 

 slowly in this species; and although worthless in itself, it 

 is often caught by the fishermen for the sake of the un- 

 digested contents of its stomach. Over fifty herrings have 

 thus been taken from the stomach of a single angler, and these 

 sufiiciently fresh to be sold in the market. When caught 

 in the net, it is said to busy itself, not in attempting to 

 find a way of escape, but in devouring as many of its 

 fellow-prisoners as it can. When all its arts fail to secure 

 for it sufiicient food at the bottom, it comes to the surface 

 in search of prey, where it has been known to capture and 

 attempt to swallow such large birds as the herring-gull and 

 the northern diver ; such instances as are known being 

 those in which it failed to accomplish this, and only suc- 

 ceeded in choking itself, both bird and fish being found 

 floating dead on the surface. 



Until lately, no fish was known to possess any defensive 

 weapons corresponding to the poison-fangs of serpents ; 

 recently, however, a fish belonging to the gToup known as 

 the " batrachoid/' or frog-like, has been discovered, having 

 a very perfect organ for inflicting wounds, and for convey- 

 ing its poison into them. There are also many other fish 

 which possess in their spines very formidable weapons of 

 offence. Chief among these are the Weevers, known also 

 as Sea-scorpions and Sea-spiders. They hide themselves 

 among sand and gravel, which they closely resemble in 

 the pepper-and-salt colour of their skin ; and here they 



