ANGLER. 207 



and who arc without a suspicion of the danu;(n- ])roccc{ling from 

 the gaping hut ([uiescent cavern of a mouth. And fonuidahk^ 

 indeed is that gulph which lies open to receive the prey, as 

 hungry is the stomach which is prepared to receive it. "This 

 fish is all one vast extended mouth," says Oppian; to Avhich 

 we may add bv adaptation, from our English poet Spenser — 



"The open inonth, that seemed to contain 

 A full good peck Avithin the utmost brim. 

 All set with dreadful teeth in i'an<i:es twain, 

 That terriht'd his foes, and armed him, 

 Appearing like llie mouth of Orcus ghastly grim." 



The extent of tlu; mouth is indeed formidable, for in an 

 example which measured i'oiu- feet and a half in length, and 

 wei"'hed seventy-two pounds, this organ measured fourteen 

 inches across; and this in action is capable of being greatly 

 extended by means of several joints Avith which these parts 

 are supplied, to a larger degree than in most other fishes. In 

 opening the mouth the lower jaw is rather protruded than 

 lowered. The upi)er jaw is also capable of some degree of 

 protrusion, and at its symphysis a sidelong motion is also put 

 in action, by which it appears possible that the Angler might 

 be able to swallow a prey equal, or nearly so, to its own 

 bulk, to Avhich also a Avide gullet can afford a passage and 

 the stomach a Avelcome; Avhile the skin of the body is so 

 loose as to alloAv of any degree of distension Avithout incon- 

 venience, and there are no ribs on the sides that might offer 

 a mechanical resistance. Nor can the food pass easily out of 

 the stomach into the intestines Avithout being entirely digested, 

 for its loAver or pyloric orifice is small, and there is reason 

 for supposing that the process of digestion is itself sIoav. On 

 one occasion there Avere nearly three quarters of a hundred 

 of herrings found in the stomach of an Angler, and so little 

 change had they suffered that they Avere sold by the fishermen 

 I in the market, without any suspicion in the buyer of the 

 manner in Avhich they had been obtained. In another instance 

 there Avere taken from the stomach tAventy-one Flounders and 

 a Dorey, all of them of svifficient size and sufficiently uninjured 

 to make a good appearance in the market Avhere they Avere 

 sold. 



